Posted on 08/25/2016 5:50:08 AM PDT by Enlightened1
Edward Snowden, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, demonstrates serious smarts in this scene from Oliver Stone's upcoming political thriller. Get a first look here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0gN0PLcBGw
Americans remain divided on their opinions of Edward Snowden, the former CIA employee and NSA contractor who copied and leaked classified information in 2013.
But if Oliver Stone's new political thriller "Snowden" can be believed, there's one issue about the man that can't be debated. He's brilliant.
In an exclusive clip provided to CNET from Open Road Films, Snowden, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, takes an aptitude test during the CIA recruitment process. The senior intelligence operative running the test (Rhys Ifans) warns the room full of nervous test-takers that the average test time is five hours, and if they take more than eight, they'll fail.
Spoiler alert: Snowden doesn't need five hours.
Gordon-Levitt recently spoke to CNET's Connie Guglielmo, and shared details about meeting with Snowden in Moscow, where he's living while seeking asylum elsewhere. Gordon-Levitt said that he doesn't feel Snowden fits either the hero or traitor label.
"It's not a simple story," he said. "And that's the most important takeaway: Things like this aren't simple, and when we try to reduce them to simple sound bites, it doesn't help anything or anybody. Personally, I believe what he did was really beneficial to our country."
"Snowden" rolls out in theaters worldwide starting September 16.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnet.com ...
Well, if Oliver Stone portrays it that way, it must be accurate. I mean he’s practically a documentary filmmaker!
Oliver Stone is good at directing “Parallax View” style paranoid thrillers. Unfortunately, life in the US has actually become a dystopic paranoid thriller...
Plus he’s not known for sticking to the facts. He has an agenda.
Snowden, traitor or patriot?
Compared to Hitlery’s email mess, he’s more patriot than traitor.
Why is someone on FR pimping Hollywood leftists. I’ve pretty much given up on Hollywood movies.
That Levit must be smart huh?
I watched the doc on Snowden and came away with mixed opinion on him. Just like about what he did. One thing is certain, with an ego like his a long happy life isn’t a certainty.
It’s a movie about a major news story with a continued debate about the government spying on it’s citizens. That’s why.
Oh Hollywood is noted for its truth telling ways. Recently I watched a clip that stated that “Navy Seals are recruited from socipaths in prison for murder serving life sentences”
F#/^ Hollywood.
Yes, true.
I would prefer a director like David Fincher, e.g. The Social Network. In this film, he did a good job of portraying the various characters with their idiosyncracies and flaws, but in the context of an interesting story.
I see both sides of the Snowden debate. I see how he can be called a traitor, but he is also revealing some frightening things about the power of the massive, progressive-left government and the crony, corrupt, insiders who run it.
As for Oliver Stone, his movies are pure propaganda, and his characters ridiculous caricatures. I wouldn’t count on him portraying things accurately.
Snowden would be prosecuted.
Hillary gets a pass for much much worse and then lies about it and then lies about the lies.
I think he’s a patriot. He committed a criminal act to expose the real criminals. Should he go to jail, yes. Is he a patriot, yes.
I scored 155 on my GT for the USA in '69.
They didn't make a movie about it!
They did chase me around for several weeks, and occasionally thereafter, trying to get me to sign up for OCS.
I'm glad I resisted that crap!
I would've went straight to VN as a shave-tailed 2nd Looie and been dead within a month.
As it was, I went as a shaved-head PVT and only got shot three times and blown up once.
It pays to ignore your intelligence, sometimes!
And Snowden may be intelligent, but he is still stoopid.
Stone’s “World Trade Center” was pretty good.
Oh, oh. I wish someone had done this besides Rodger Stone. His command of the facts is tentative at best. This shows he is taking the Marvel Comics superhero approach rather than sticking to the facts....
What Stone it attempting to do is soften Snowden’s image so that there might be an upswelling of public sympathy, possibly leading to his return to the US without a stop-over at Gitmo. There has never been any question about his intelligence, the issue always has been whether the information he released compromised ongoing intelligence operations, exposed US field operatives and put lives of American citizens and allies at risk. That he violated the terms of his security agreement, which he swore an oath to uphold, is a given.
Snowden himself has been conducting his own image-softening campaign since he landed in the USSR ...I mean Russia. He claims he was motivated by patriotism and denies his leaks caused any significant damage because he personally filtered them before release. But he could not have accurately made that assessment unless he was intelligence-trained. As part of his propaganda, he consistently has exaggerated his own qualifications by making vague claims to having had such training, always avoiding concrete terms or otherwise offering details that would be either confirmable or refutable by the average citizen. Because if he lacked this training and experience, then the entire basis for his analytical claims (and altruistic motives) falls to pieces and he becomes just another disgruntled worker lashing out at his employer.
Snowden had no such training. Sure, he picked up a lot of Intel lingo and spook-speak, but that’s only natural, considering his work environment. People who work in clerical jobs in hospitals also tend to pick up a lot of medical jargon, but that’s hardly a fit substitute for a medical degree. He was an IT geek, nothing more. CIA/NSA also employs janitors and cafeteria workers, but the mere fact that they work within the intel community does not equip them to make decisions affecting national security.
And the only proof Snowden offers of his claims that he’s done no harm is that no intelligence officials have come forward to refute them. But he knew full well before he said it that that was never going to happen — under any circumstance — because as a matter of policy, the Intel community never publicly discusses operations, much less defends itself. Because whenever it is exposed, their first priority always Always ALWAYS is damage control. The simple fact of addressing Snowden’s claims could only worsen their exposure. And to refute his claims by offering concrete details as to what damage those leaks might have caused would only compromise operations even more. So despite Snowden’s claims to the contrary, their silence means exactly nothing.
But one unfortunate outcome of Snowden’s leaks we DO know about is that he gave ISIS a blueprint for tightening their online security. One of the documents he released addressed the specifics of their slapdash online security in great detail. As a consequence, ISIS revamped their entire communications network, going so far as set up a (traditional, tiered) 24/7 help line to aid their Jihadi brethren in making their online communiques more secure. After which, ISIS “went dark.” Where they used to nonchalantly post information in open-source social media, after, their operations essentially vanished from the ‘web. Thanks to Snowden. Which law enforcement officials count as a key reason the November, 2015 Paris night club attacks were so effective. Before, at the very least, there would have been an increase in nonspecific “chatter.” Which could have been enough to signal the French to increase their alert level. After, there was nothing. Not hint of a warning. Because of Snowden.
So if ISIS eventually manages to pull off a large-scale terror attack on US soil, you can list Edward Snowden as one of the indispensable assets contributing to their success.
Oh please everybody knows the Feds funds and arms ISIS. Did you forget about the Syrian Rebels are ISIS????
Have you seen the photos of McCain meeting up with ISIS leaders?
THAT IS WHO YOU BLAME FOR ANY ISIS ATTACK ANYWHERE AROUND THE WORLD!
Oh and Saudi Arabia too. After all it IS their Proxy Army. Much like the French Foreign Legion is France’s Proxy Army.
If you still don’t believe your eyes well, then see what top U.S. Intelligence three star General Mike Flynn who had been the top General over Intelligence until just recently.
See Robert “Tosh” Plumlee testimony. He was CIA Pilot for almost 50 years! As a matter of fact he testified in congress during Iran/Conta if you question his CIA credentials. Guess what Benghazi was a weapons cache staging ground for the “ISIS”.... I mean the Syrian Rebels....(sarcasm off)
See what Dr. Steve Pieczenik (the real life Jack Ryan) says.
All Snowden did was expose to the world the U.S. is violating the federal law, the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution. This is because he saw what they did to Thomas Drake and William Binney other NSA whistle blowers that tried to follow protocol.
Snowden did not expose any agent in the filed like Hillary did. He simply exposed a lawless government agency that think the federal laws, the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution does not apply to them.
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