Posted on 10/25/2013 7:13:17 AM PDT by Brad from Tennessee
U.S. officials are alerting some foreign intelligence services that documents detailing their secret cooperation with the United States have been obtained by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, according to government officials.
Snowden, U.S. officials said, took tens of thousands of military intelligence documents, some of which contain sensitive material about collection programs against adversaries such as Iran, Russia and China. Some refer to operations that in some cases involve countries not publicly allied with the United States.
The process of informing officials in capital after capital about the risk of disclosure is delicate. In some cases, one part of the cooperating government may know about the collaboration while others — such as the foreign ministry — may not, the officials said. The documents, if disclosed, could compromise operations, officials said.
The notifications come as the Obama administration is scrambling to placate allies after allegations that the NSA has spied on foreign leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The reports have forced the administration to play down operations targeting friends while also attempting to preserve other programs that depend on provisional partners. In either case, trust in the United States may be compromised. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Rick Snyder announced the opening of a new data center in Grand Rapids Michigan the other day.
I realize there are good uses for collecting lots of data on lots of things but the dangers are even greater and if you start throwing personal data in it just gets worse.
Snowden has a backup! Several backups! Julian Paul Assange and company!
Did she finally get that takadikoffame she's been needing for so long?
I'm sute that it's a dead man switch. Snowden does need to click anything. If he does not refresh security regularly, like weekly, then the public key is no longer required and the encrypted data becomes readable to the likely thousands of people who now possess it in encrypted form.
This guy is a tratior who’s betrayed the trust of the US govenment. He needs to be either kidnapped or droned out
I think this is more to provoke another less civilized
country to take the action against Snowden that they are
restrained from doing. In other words a contract on his
head. They cant take him out so they con someone else to
do it. Like the end of Scarface.
Our most dangerous enemy is based in DC. That won’t change when we elect a new President. The evil thugs of the world are all our enemies.
I've wondered the same thing about Obama. Also, the fact that Obama whispered that he would have more flexibility after the election came to mind when the Snowden thing happened. If Obama were trying to pass secrets to the soviets how would he do it? He doesn't personally have access to that secret info. He would have to recruit someone like Snowden to take it and then provide cover for them. I thought Snowden's actions of going to Hong Kong and then Russia were suspicious. If Obama, Snowden, and Putin were all in on it they put on a pretty good act. One thing I have learned in all my 64 years is that nothing is ever as it seems concerning gov actions. What we see and what we get from the media is for our consumption. What really happens we will never know.
It has been going on for decades.
This will change things. For one thing, I expect “Cloud computing” to go away.
Could be.
It seems nobody is asking the question, “How could such low level people get such high level access to so much high level, Top Secret intelligence information?”
Bradley Manning was a Private in low level position in a low level intelligence operation
Snowden Was a Contractor who had only been on the job for several months.
These guys had to had help and may have been cut outs for the real leakers in this Administration.
Snowden is a traitor. He needs to be treated as such.
Nice attempt at in absentia character assassination.
We were ordered NOT to intercept any U.S. comms. To do so was illegal.
Look who was President at that time and now look who we have for President and there's the #1 difference right there. One of the two of those men was a loyal American and the other is something fundamentally different.
Over the years I have been personally involved in many stories that made the news. Unfortunately, the news never gets it right. So yes by some accounts Snowden may be a traitor, but by others he is a patriot for bringing illegal activities perpetrated by faceless bureaucrats against the citizens of the United States to light. It is also possible that the whole thing is a ruse by our own intelligence community to keep our adversaries heads down.
I imagine many who previously thought their communications were secure are now wondering what we know and have even scrapped plans for destructive operations that they feel may have been compromised. Does it seem strange to you that despite a resurgence in Al-Qaeda activities over the past couple of years that no major operations took place this year on 9-11?
There have been dozens and dozens of possible scenarios presented in the threads here on Free Republic and elsewhere. You do not know whether or not Mr. Snowden is a traitor. That is a statement that would need to be determined through our court system. Personally I feel that there has been more evidence presented of traitorous activities perpetrated by those currently occupying our own Whitehouse than what we have seen presented about Mr. Snowden.
Whose lives were put at risk when our own Vice President told the world that it was members of Seal Team Six who took part in a raid against Osama Bin Laden? Dozens of them were subsequently killed in a preplanned ambush against a Chinook Helicopter, the largest single loss of U.S. life since the beginning of the 2001 Afghan War. Was Mr. Snowden responsible for that? Can anyone name even one person who was outed by Eric Snowden?
Mr Snowden’s disclosures have caused our adversaries to have to quit using nearly every form of electronic communications. It has caused them to wonder if all of their clandestine operations have been compromised. This most likely has effectively paralyzed their communications and caused many of their activities to be delayed or canceled. At this time there is no way to know whether or not Mr. Snowden’s disclosures have helped or hurt in the “war against terrorism”. I often wonder whether or not the entire episode is not a ruse by our intelligence community.
My dad has a saying however... and it is this, “Simple stupidity rules the world.” Being well into middle age myself I have found that no other statement is more true. So given that almost universal truth... if we can determine the most stupid explanation for the Snowden disclosures that will be the one that is most likely. I just don't know which explanation that is. Likely it is none of the theories brought forth here.
It’s going to be bad if nukes start falling and countries start asking Obama “Can you hear me now?”
They can take Snowden out but it won’t stop the info from flowing. The genie is out of the bottle.
Or Russian ICBMs arcing over the North Pole at 3 a.m. while Obama calls political advisers at home, asking: “What do we do now?”
Thank you for your post. Very well said and put. I respectfully disagree and feel that He is still a traitor. He has caused damage to our intelligence. Just my opinion, but I find that being a traitor.
Is Biden a traitor? That’s a different discussion, but a good point.
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