“It is Snowden who decided, at great risk, to honor his oath to defend the Constitution against ALL enemies foreign and domestic – and NOT the timid politicians whose cowardice Snowden exposed.  Naïve souls still inclined to give credence to congressional “overseers” (“overlookers” is a better word) and to a constitutional-lawyer-in-chief who lies outright about his sweeping power to pardon, are now asked to believe that Snowden was/is a Russian spy.  At long last, have you no sense of decency?”

Former CIA Analyst Ray McGovern

Former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden

The following declassified report was released December 22, 2016 by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.  A unclassified summary of the report was previously released in September 2016. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

“At long last, have you no sense of decency?”

The answer to the question raised by Ray McGovern is rather obvious.

RELATED POST: Obama: “I Cannot Pardon Snowden.”

The Review

In June 2013, former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden perpetrated the largest and most damaging public release of classified information in U.S. intelligence history. In August 2014, the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) directed Committee staff to carry out a comprehensive review of the unauthorized disclosures. The aim of the review was to allow the Committee to explain to other Members of Congress–and, where possible, the American people–how this breach occurred, what the U.S. Government knows about the man who committed it, and whether the security shortfalls it highlighted had been remedied. (…)

The bulk of the Committee’s 36-page review, which includes 230 footnotes, must remain classified to avoid causing further harm to national security; however, the Committee has made a number of unclassified findings. These findings demonstrate that the public narrative popularized by Snowden and his allies is rife with falsehoods, exaggerations, and crucial omissions, a pattern that began before he stole 1.5 million sensitive documents.

Interview with Ray McGovern

RT International asked Ray to comment on the House committee report, as soon as a redacted version was made public.

House Intelligence Committee eunuchs defame Edward Snowden, in large part because he exposed their own complicity in what former NSA directors (predecessors of the malleable Dick-Cheney tool, Michael Hayden) publicly called “clear violations of the law.”

REFERENCES

Review of the Unauthorized Disclosures of Former National Security Agency Contractor Edward Snowden

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Declassified Report on Snowden Disclosures