Blogs of War

The Guardian hosted live Q&A with Edward Snowden just wrapped up. Here are my initial thoughts (captured live):

On intelligence community foreign targeting:

I did not reveal any US operations against legitimate military targets. I pointed out where the NSA has hacked civilian infrastructure such as universities, hospitals, and private businesses because it is dangerous. These nakedly, aggressively criminal acts are wrong no matter the target. Not only that, when NSA makes a technical mistake during an exploitation operation, critical systems crash. Congress hasn’t declared war on the countries – the majority of them are our allies – but without asking for public permission, NSA is running network operations against them that affect millions of innocent people. And for what? So we can have secret access to a computer in a country we’re not even fighting? – Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden seems to have an incredibly narrow list of acceptable targets for the U.S. intelligence committee. One so narrow that not a single nation on earth would adopt it. Releasing this information, and chosing to do battle with the United States on this front, certainly doesn’t support his case that he has the American people’s best interest at heart. Edward Snowden may have had access to a lot of intelligence but he apparently has little understanding of it’s place in our government or any government for that matter.

On Wikileaks:

Wikileaks is a legitimate journalistic outlet and they carefully redacted all of their releases in accordance with a judgment of public interest. The unredacted release of cables was due to the failure of a partner journalist to control a passphrase. – Edward Snowden

Snowden seems to have the alternative political outlook, and reasoning, of your typical revolutionary sixteen year old. His dad said he was a deep thinker. Possibly, but not a very clear one.

On his salary:

The statement I made about earnings was that $200,000 was my “career high” salary. I had to take pay cuts in the course of pursuing specific work. Booz was not the most I’ve been paid. – Edward Snowden

A $78,000 pay cut to pursue specific work? Like work that offered increased access to classified information perhaps?

On private sector involvement:

They are legally compelled to comply and maintain their silence in regard to specifics of the program, but that does not comply them from ethical obligation. If for example Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Apple refused to provide this cooperation with the Intelligence Community, what do you think the government would do? Shut them down? – Edward Snowden

U.S. corporations are not naive 29 year old system administrators. Disobeying a direct, and legal, order from the U.S. government is not typically something that they are keen to do.

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Again on foreign targets:

More fundamentally, the “US Persons” protection in general is a distraction from the power and danger of this system. Suspicionless surveillance does not become okay simply because it’s only victimizing 95% of the world instead of 100%. – Edward Snowden

What Snowden is describing here is the goal, the reason for existence, of every nation’s intelligence service. They exist to collect intelligence – often through extralegal or even illegal (from the target’s perspective) methods. Again Snowden has placed himself in direct opposition of the United States and not just as a citizen concerned about the potential domestic abuse by the intelligence community. He is apparently opposed to any successful foreign collection as well. This is a hugely important distinction. He can’t seem to distinguish between foreign intelligence collection and domestic law enforcement activities.

On his potential involvement with China:

This is a predictable smear that I anticipated before going public, as the US media has a knee-jerk “RED CHINA!” reaction to anything involving HK or the PRC, and is intended to distract from the issue of US government misconduct. Ask yourself: if I were a Chinese spy, why wouldn’t I have flown directly into Beijing? I could be living in a palace petting a phoenix by now. – Edward Snowden

We don’t know where you are Edward. But you seem to be closer to Beijing than Reykjavik. This does not address the question.

On Obama:

If the Obama administration responds with an even harsher hand against me, they can be assured that they’ll soon find themselves facing an equally harsh public response. – Edward Snowden

Snowden’s delusional martyr complex is on display. It looks rather silly.

Advice for other “whistleblowers”:

This country is worth dying for. – Edward Snowden

Drama queen much? The government isn’t going to kill you – or them. Again, this chat is getting light on substance and rather silly.

Again on China:

No. I have had no contact with the Chinese government. Just like with the Guardian and the Washington Post, I only work with journalists. – Edward Snowden

No other answer could have been expected but you gotta ask, right? Whatever the case, China is pleased with your work Mr. Snowden.

On media response:

Unfortunately, the mainstream media now seems far more interested in what I said when I was 17 or what my girlfriend looks like rather than, say, the largest program of suspicionless surveillance in human history. – Edward Snowden

You haven’t really done her, or yourself, any favors in that regard.

Read more about Edward Snowden on the blog and follow @blogsofwar on Twitter for around the clock updates on this and other important national security stories.

The denial is meaningless and would be expected at this stage in any event. However, Hua Chunying did leverage the question to throw a soft jab back at the United States:

China’s foreign ministry has dismissed speculation that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden might have spied for Beijing as “completely groundless”.

Spokeswoman Hua Chunying, speaking at a regular press briefing on Monday, also urged the US to “pay attention to the international community’s concerns and demands and give … the necessary explanation” of its surveillance activities.

Her remarks were in response to questions from two state media organisations. She had previously declined to comment on the 29-year-old’s case, or his claims that the US had hacked targets in Hong Kong and on the Chinese mainland.

Even if we put this question aside, and it is far too early to do that, others remain. If we assume that Snowden has had no contact with Chinese intelligence, and he eventually choses to defect to China, the spying question is rather pointless (except to the counterintelligence folks). Giving up the goods is a prerequisite for defection.

It could also be said that (again assuming no relationship between Snowden and Chinese intelligence) with Snowden’s very public initial revelations and carefully crafted communications that present China as a victim of U.S. intelligence operations he’s already engineered the sort of counterpropaganda campaign that Chinese intelligence could only dream of orchestrating.

Getting to the heart of this matter may take time. We are left to speculate in the absence of a smoking gun. I am still optimistic that the truth will surface but getting there might take a very long time. In the meantime, Edward Snowden and Chinese officials will continue to take very damaging shots at the United States. He may, or may not be a spy, but he is definitely no hero.

Read more about Edward Snowden on the blog and follow @blogsofwar on Twitter for around the clock updates on this and other important national security stories.

It is not yet possible to determine if Edward Snowden is working with a foreign intelligence service (FIS) or if a rich fantasy life and raging narcissism may have lead him into this unfortuate position. What is obvious, however, is that he is not a simple idealistic whistleblower.

Unkowns aside, Edward Snowden continues to behave like a spy. He continues to damage U.S. interests. And he continues to issue communications shaped to benefit China.

“Snowden said that according to unverified documents seen by the Post, the NSA had been hacking computers in Hong Kong and on the mainland since 2009. None of the documents revealed any information about Chinese military systems, he said.

One of the targets in the SAR, according to Snowden, was Chinese University and public officials, businesses and students in the city. The documents also point to hacking activity by the NSA against mainland targets.

Snowden believed there had been more than 61,000 NSA hacking operations globally, with hundreds of targets in Hong Kong and on the mainland.”

The cherry picking here, and in his initial interview, is suspicious. Edward Snowden’s pitch feels like it has been carefully crafted by a foreign intelligence service. His ability to stay hidden yet engage the media is suspect as well. The modified duck test will tell you that If it looks like a spy, talks like a spy and runs like a spy then it is probably a spy. I certainly wouldn’t bet against it in Edward Snowden’s case.

But there are other possibilities.

Snowden’s ridiculous claims, apparently rich fantasy life, and willingness to leave his family and girlfriend in a terrible position make labeling him with absolute certainty difficult at the moment. He may be something of a hybrid character fueled by delusion and narcissism. What may have started with the best intentions may have been undermined by fawning journalists and deep flaws in his character. Or perhaps, as some have suggested, he may have intended to be a legitimate whistleblower who (thanks to absolutely disastrous execution on his part) will ultimately defect out of necessity. He’ll likely have no problem doing so assuming that this isn’t theater and that he isn’t already a spy. The Chinese communist party-backed Global Times has already encouraged the government to extend him an invitation.

“Snowden took the initiative to expose the U.S. government’s attacks on Hong Kong and the mainland’s Internet networks. This concerns China’s national interest,” the commentary said. “Maybe he has more evidence. The Chinese government should let him speak out and according to whether the information is public, use it as evidence to negotiate with the United States openly or in private.”

Call Edward Snowden whatever you like. The damage is done.

In the end we may find that all the descriptors applied to Snowden (short of the frighteningly naive “hero”) may apply to some degree. It may take years to reach a relatively complete understanding of his character and motivations. Those who study intelligence know that its history is full of complex, flawed, destructive, and tragic figures figures just like Edward Snowden. We call them spies.

Read more about Edward Snowden on the blog and follow @blogsofwar on Twitter for around the clock updates on this and other important national security stories.