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

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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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Notable Replies

  1. Light on NSA spying is important. But Snowden is, ultimately, a real putz, even if he did democracy a service.

  2. Avatar for meri meri says:

    Quick! Someone attack Snowden or Greenwald!

  3. Oh look! Now people are reporting on what Snowden thinks other people think.

  4. Avatar for darcy darcy says:

    Great pic. Love me some SNOOOOOW DEN!

    Jonestown coming to TPM in … 3… 2…1!

  5. Was the statue of liberty costume already rented out.

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