shorter life expectancy: snowden, or bergdahl?

[shart_attack]

Just want to gauge the saliency of opinion amongst my fellow USMBers with a poll.

I'm still not exactly sure Snowden isn't actually doing the NSA's work, i.e. giving the "bad guys" a phony playbook as part of a very Byzantine decoy.

But Bergdahl — wow. Just. Wow.

You just don't get your bros in the foxholes killed, only to come out smelling like a rose and being quasi celebrated in some Western media outlets and continue to walk above the ground for very long.

Soldiers—and their families—do not forgive and forget so easily.

 

[waltky]

Snowden killed 'important' spy program...

Spy chief: Snowden killed 'important' spy program in Afghanistan
9/09/15 | Edward Snowden’s disclosures about American spy powers directly led to the end of a critical program in Afghanistan, the nation’s top spy said on Wednesday.

By forcing the end of the program that recorded practically every cellphone call in the country — as well as scuttling other efforts — Snowden “has done untold damage” to U.S. intelligence, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said. “Terrorists, particularly, have gone to school on the revelations caused by Snowden,” Clapper said at the Intelligence and National Security Summit. “Particularly a program in Afghanistan, which he exposed and Glenn Greenwald wrote about, and the day after he wrote about it, the program was shut down by the government of Afghanistan,” Clapper said.

The spy chief appeared to be referring to a May 2014 story on The Intercept — the online news outlet spearheaded by Greenwald — outlining how the National Security Agency (NSA) was “secretly intercepting, recording and archiving the audio of virtually every cellphone conversation” in two nations. The Intercept said that the program was taking place in the Bahamas and another country, which it declined to name because of concerns that doing so could lead to violence. The Washington Post reported a similar story based on Snowden’s leaks outlining the depths of the NSA’s phone spying ability in a foreign country, which it also declined to name.

Days later, WikiLeaks publicly identified the country as Afghanistan. The program “was the single most important source of force protection warning for our people in Afghanistan,” Clapper said on Wednesday. The program in Afghanistan is one of the few instances in which U.S. intelligence officials have publicly detailed how Snowden’s disclosures led to a specific loss in meaningful intelligence or assisted the country’s opponents.

Snowden has become an object of scorn among much of the intelligence world, where his disclosures are believed to have severely damaged the country’s national security and global reputation. “On the one hand, it forced some needed transparency, particularly on those programs that affected civil liberties and privacy in this country,” Clapper said on Wednesday. “But he exposed so many other things that had nothing to do with so-called domestic surveillance or civil liberties and privacy in this country,” he added. Snowden has sought refuge in Russia for the last two years, where he is avoiding espionage charges in the U.S.

Spy chief: Snowden killed 'important' spy program in Afghanistan

 

[waltky]

Those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones...

Snowden Should Face the Music for Stealing Classified Information
October 13, 2015 - In the Democratic presidential debate on CNN on Tuesday night, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Edward Snowden should not be brought back to the United States "without facing the music" for his theft of classified information.

Moderator Anderson Cooper asked Clinton: "Secretary Clinton, [is Edward Snowden a] hero or traitor?" Clinton responded: "He broke the laws of the United States. He could have been a whistleblower. He could have gotten all the protections of being a whistleblower. He could have raised all the issues that he has raised and I think there would have been a positive response to that. In addition, he stole very important information that has unfortunately fallen into a lot of the wrong hands. So, I don't think he should be brought back home without facing the music."

At another moment in the debate, Cooper asked Clinton about the fact that she will be testifying next week in a congressional committee about conducting her email business as secretary of state on a private server. “Well, I’ve taken responsibility for it. I did say it was a mistake. What I did was allowed by the State Department," said Clinton. "But it wasn’t the best choice. And I have been as transparent as I know to be, turning over 55,000 pages of my emails, asking that they be made public. And you’re right, I am going to be testifying. I have been asking to testify for some time, and to do it in public—which was not originally agreed to."

Clinton went on to accuse the House committee that is looking into her emails and investigatiing the attack on the State Department and CIA facilities in Benghazi, which resulted in the deaths of four Americans, as being "basically an arm of the Republican National Committee." Cooper asked her: "But Secretary Clinton, with all due respect, isn’t it a little bit hard for you to call this just a partisan issue. There’s an FBI investigation, and President Obama himself just two days ago said this was a legitimate issue." "Well, I never said it wasn’t legitimate," said Clinton. "I said I have answered all the questions, and I certainly will be doing so again before this committee. But I think it would be really unfair not to look at the entire picture."

MORE

 

[IsaacNewton]

Snowden is a modern day Patrick Henry. A citizen that says there is no government that is bigger than one citizen.

He is a canary in the mine.

 

[Anathema]

Berghdal..... He has the poor lick to be insude the United States whereas Snowden is safely in Russia.

 

[NightFox]

Berghdal..... He has the poor lick to be insude the United States whereas Snowden is safely in Russia.

Ummmm... I not sure it would be accurate to say that ANYBODY is "safely" in Russia, after all it's a nation controlled by gangsters.

 

[Anathema]

Ummmm... I not sure it would be accurate to say that ANYBODY is "safely" in Russia, after all it's a nation controlled by gangsters.

Yep, and he has the favor of tbe largest mob of all - Mr. Putin's mob.

 

[NightFox]

Ummmm... I not sure it would be accurate to say that ANYBODY is "safely" in Russia, after all it's a nation controlled by gangsters.

Yep, and he has the favor of tbe largest mob of all - Mr. Putin's mob.

Until they decide he's no longer of value.......

 

[Anathema]

Until they decide he's no longer of value.......

While Obama is in office the mere PR value keeps him safe and afterwatds...... Im relatively confident that Mr Snowden is smart enough to have a couple Aces up his sleeve.

 

[NightFox]

Until they decide he's no longer of value.......

While Obama is in office the mere PR value keeps him safe and afterwatds...... Im relatively confident that Mr Snowden is smart enough to have a couple Aces up his sleeve.

I do hope you're correct, it would be sad if anything happened to Ed Snowden.

 

[Rustic]

If something happened to Bergdahl...
It would be forgotten by the next news cycle... Rightly so.

A cowards, coward...

 

[TNHarley]

Berg. He is gay. or something..

 

[TNHarley]

Snowden killed 'important' spy program...

Spy chief: Snowden killed 'important' spy program in Afghanistan
9/09/15 | Edward Snowden’s disclosures about American spy powers directly led to the end of a critical program in Afghanistan, the nation’s top spy said on Wednesday.

By forcing the end of the program that recorded practically every cellphone call in the country — as well as scuttling other efforts — Snowden “has done untold damage” to U.S. intelligence, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said. “Terrorists, particularly, have gone to school on the revelations caused by Snowden,” Clapper said at the Intelligence and National Security Summit. “Particularly a program in Afghanistan, which he exposed and Glenn Greenwald wrote about, and the day after he wrote about it, the program was shut down by the government of Afghanistan,” Clapper said.

The spy chief appeared to be referring to a May 2014 story on The Intercept — the online news outlet spearheaded by Greenwald — outlining how the National Security Agency (NSA) was “secretly intercepting, recording and archiving the audio of virtually every cellphone conversation” in two nations. The Intercept said that the program was taking place in the Bahamas and another country, which it declined to name because of concerns that doing so could lead to violence. The Washington Post reported a similar story based on Snowden’s leaks outlining the depths of the NSA’s phone spying ability in a foreign country, which it also declined to name.

Days later, WikiLeaks publicly identified the country as Afghanistan. The program “was the single most important source of force protection warning for our people in Afghanistan,” Clapper said on Wednesday. The program in Afghanistan is one of the few instances in which U.S. intelligence officials have publicly detailed how Snowden’s disclosures led to a specific loss in meaningful intelligence or assisted the country’s opponents.

Snowden has become an object of scorn among much of the intelligence world, where his disclosures are believed to have severely damaged the country’s national security and global reputation. “On the one hand, it forced some needed transparency, particularly on those programs that affected civil liberties and privacy in this country,” Clapper said on Wednesday. “But he exposed so many other things that had nothing to do with so-called domestic surveillance or civil liberties and privacy in this country,” he added. Snowden has sought refuge in Russia for the last two years, where he is avoiding espionage charges in the U.S.

Spy chief: Snowden killed 'important' spy program in Afghanistan

Yes. He also said the NSA is studying our porn habits. Not terrorists.