Snowden: Government Worried About A Career-Destroying 'Smoking Gun' In NSA Documents

[DonViejo]

By TOM KLUDT Published AUGUST 13, 2014, 10:35 AM EDT

Edward Snowden believes the government might be bracing itself for another explosive bombshell that has yet to be unearthed from the trove of documents he stole from the National Security Agency.

In a lengthy cover story for the September issue of Wired, Snowden told James Bamford that the documents may yield another massive revelation that could be the end of some top government officials.

“I think they think there’s a smoking gun in there that would be the death of them all politically,” Snowden said. “The fact that the government’s investigation failed—that they don’t know what was taken and that they keep throwing out these ridiculous huge numbers—implies to me that somewhere in their damage assessment they must have seen something that was like, ‘Holy shit.’ And they think it’s still out there.”

The Wired story has already gotten plenty of attention for a pair of photos. The cover (posted below) shows Snowden holding an American flag close to his face, a middle finger to the scores of politicians who have branded the former security contractor as a traitor. Another photo used in the story shows Snowden posing with former NSA and CIA chief Michael Hayden in 2011.


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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/snowden-smoking-gun-photos

[djean111]

1. I think so, too. n/t

[tk2kewl]

2. i fucking hope so

we need something massive that will wake up the public and break us out of our slide towards fascism.

[PoutrageFatigue]

4. Yup...

...the level of blase acceptance to "the way things are" is frightening to behold...

Can you imagine the shrieks of outrage from the "left" if these disclosures had been made when a republican was in the Whitehouse?

FFS the President just admitted that 'we' tortured people, where is the outrage from 'the left' about that?

Either people are too lazy, too disinterested, or too frightened already, to do anything about it...

[Amonester]

19. I'd like to know what your "anything" means in the "to do" about it.

The brutal takedowns on almost all Occupy Wall Street protestors showed "something" to everyone watching... including the whole world... so what else is there to do that would be effective?

Thanks for your input.

[PoutrageFatigue]

21. I'm not sure. Massive, non-violent protests?

Sit-ins? National Strikes?

With the Corporate-Owned media, their whores in government, and their attack-dogs in the police force, I really don't know how successful or effective any of those suggestions might be...

I have these gnawing fear that we're already too far gone, and by the time we figure out just how far down the rabbit hole we really are, it'll be too late to get out...

I'm open to ideas though...

[Amonester]

25. Agreed. I feel you.

The future looks bleaker every day.

[ZombieHorde]

26. General strike. nt

[Amonester]

27. Agreed also, but...

we talk, write, and post about it since when? 2001?

And it still never come even just close to materialize...

Got to pay the rent, I guess... and eat something every day also.

[ZombieHorde]

28. I know a general strike would be very difficult.

It would require many very angry people.

[Egnever]

3. Still playing the wait till you see what we got next game?

Wasn't it a couple of months ago now that GG was running around spewing this same nonsense. Just wait till you see what we reveal next!

Carnival barkers is what these guys are.

[rbrnmw]

5. yep

[sabrina 1]

12. And Greenwald delivered. So they do have reason to worry. The results of the revelations so far have

been very positive for the PEOPLE. Latin American nations eg, are building their own internet to protect their citizens from US spies. The EU is attempting to pass some laws to curb these infractions of people's civil rights, I can't think of a better result if they succeed.

We caught Clapper and Alexander blatantly lying to Congress so we know they are not exactly concerned about the American People. Though there has yet to be any accountability for those lies, we the people are better informed than we were. We know for certain now that those in power are above the law. We suspected it, we were pretty certain when the corrupt Banks that collapsed the world's economies were bailed out WITH OUR MONEY and not one went to jail, when the War Criminals were excused but we did hold out some hope. NOW they've been caught again, the CIA this time, spying on SENATORS, and STILL NO REACTION.

Just excuses and cover ups. It is important to have these suspicions verified. Knowledge is powerful and while many people probably did not believe their own government would invade their Civil Rights for no apparent reason, they know now.

So far, these revelations have had extraordinary results and will continue to do so until a resolution is found to end these kinds of abuses. And one day, who knows, there may even be prosecutions of all the criminals who have contributed to downward slide of this country. It takes time, in South America eg, it took sometimes 50 years before THEIR Torturers were finally brought to justice.

Good for the Whistle Blowers and the Journalists, the ONLY protection we have against an out of control government.

[randome]

6. "I think they think..." In other words, he still has nothing.

In addition, he still doesn't know what he stole and gave away if he's only guessing.

Oh, Eddie, I've missed you.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]"The whole world is a circus if you know how to look at it."
Tony Randall, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)[/center][/font][hr]

[Luminous Animal]

10. "I think they think..." means that the government doesn't know what he took.

It does not mean that Snowden does not know what he took.

There is nothing ambiguous about this response.

“I think they think there’s a smoking gun in there that would be the death of them all politically,” Snowden said. “The fact that the government’s investigation failed—that they don’t know what was taken and that they keep throwing out these ridiculous huge numbers—implies to me that somewhere in their damage assessment they must have seen something that was like, ‘Holy shit.’ And they think it’s still out there.”

And Snowden does not say, nor imply, nor hint "that the documents may yield another massive revelation that could be the end of some top government officials." TPM, quite simply, made that up.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

7. May? Could? Think? Well, I'm convinced! nt

[Luminous Animal]

9. I just read the entire article and Snowden never says "that the documents may yield...

another massive revelation that could be the end of some top government officials."

Talking Points Memo is full of shit. This is what Snowden said in the article and that is all he said.

“I think they think there’s a smoking gun in there that would be the death of them all politically,” Snowden said. “The fact that the government’s investigation failed—that they don’t know what was taken and that they keep throwing out these ridiculous huge numbers—implies to me that somewhere in their damage assessment they must have seen something that was like, ‘Holy shit.’ And they think it’s still out there.”

http://www.wired.com/2014/08/edward-snowden#ch-1

[Sheepshank]

11. drip...drip...drip...drip

for hells sake, turn on the damned faucet and lets get this over with.

This incessant torturous release of piece mealed info isn't creating the desired theatrics they think it does.

[JI7]

13. whatever happened to that big thing that Greenwald was supposed to release "soon" ?

[Luminous Animal]

14. He already did but no one cares if we spy on innocent U.S. mooslims.

[JI7]

15. we already knew about that, i thought it was something we didn't know

[Luminous Animal]

16. Now we know the names of some of the targets. Now they have standing to sue.

Now there is concrete evidence that can be presented in a court of law rather than covered up with bullshit "national security" excuses.

[msanthrope]

17. Have any of them sued? ntl

[JI7]

18. it's still not what he was trying to make it out to be

[conservaphobe]

20. It was virtually nothing.

Many had expectations it would expose widespread spying on liberal/progressive activists, but it didn't.

It did expose racial profiling, which is bad... but not a nail-in-the-coffin for liberty that some promoted it to be.

[Luminous Animal]

22. No. It did not expose racial profiling. It exposed actual spying on innocent high profile U.S.

citizens. Using your logic, the FBI wasn't spying on MLK, they were merely "racial profiling."

[conservaphobe]

23. No, they spied on people for simply being Muslim.

I said that was wrong.

What more do you want?

[Luminous Animal]

24. Really, so Nihad Awad, director of the civil rights organization, CAIR, was spied on merely because

he is Muslim.

Would you be interested in buying a bridge in Brooklyn?