Snowden Denies Spying for "Aliens" (and Russians)

Over the weekend, Sen. Dianne Feinstein
(D-Calif.) and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), the Intelligence
Committee chairs for the Senate and House respectively,
speculated on TV talk shows that NSA whistleblower Edward
Snowden was working as a Russian spy. Evidence? None whatsover.

Instead the Senator and the Congressman are clearly engaged in a
disinformation campaign aimed at confusing Americans as part of
their efforts to maintain domestic surveillance powers.

In an online interview with Jane Mayer at
The New Yorker, Snowden denies the accusations and
criticizes the news media for giving an uncontested platform to NSA
enablers. From The New Yorker:

“It’s not the smears that mystify me,” Snowden told me. “It’s
that outlets report statements that the speakers themselves admit
are sheer speculation.” Snowden went on to poke fun at the range of
allegations that have been made against him in the media without
intelligence officials providing some kind of factual basis: “ ‘We
don’t know if he had help from aliens.’ ‘You know, I have serious
questions about whether he really exists.’ ”

Snowden went on, “It’s just amazing that these massive media
institutions don’t have any sort of editorial position on this. I
mean these are pretty serious allegations, you know?” He continued,
“The media has a major role to play in American society, and
they’re really abdicating their responsibility to hold power to
account.”

Snowden further challenges his accusers to show evidence that
his revelations of just how comprehensively the NSA had violated
the Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and
seizure have caused harm to national security. The New
Yorker interview concludes:

Snowden said that he “knew what he was getting into” when he
became a whistleblower. “At least the American public has a seat at
the table now,” he said. “It may sound trite,” but if “I end up
disgraced in a ditch somewhere, but it helps the country, it will
still be worth it.”

Rogers and Feinstein clearly know that they are peddling what
amounts to lies. As
Techdirt reports:

Meanwhile, both the NSA’s guy in charge of
reviewing the Snowden situation,
Rick Ledgett, as well as
the FBI team investigating Snowden have both said that there is
absolutely no indication that Snowden was working with anyone else.
The NSA specifically has said:

The NSA’s internal review has determined about 98
percent of the scope of the material that Snowden had accessed, and
officials have found no evidence that he had help either
within the NSA or from adversary spy agencies.(added
emphasis)

As for the FBI:

According to senior government officials, F.B.I.
agents from the bureau’s Washington field office, who are leading
the investigation, believe that Mr. Snowden methodically downloaded
the files over several months while working as a government
contractor at the Hawaii facility. They also believe that
he worked alone, the officials said.(added
emphasis)

The articles in both The New Yorker and
Techdirt are well worth your attention.

For more background on the ungrounded speculations by NSA stooge
Rogers, see my blogpost, “Joe
McCarthy Would Be Proud: Surveillance State Functionary Rep. Mike
Rogers Implies Snowden is a Russian Spy.”