Former NSA and CIA Director Michael Hayden today declared Edward Snowden a “traitor” for leaking details on the NSA’s surveillance programs to the American public, declaring it the “most serious hemorrhaging of American secrets in the history of American espionage.”
Hayden went on to claim that the NSA was “infinitely weaker” now that everyone knows about what it is doing, insisting it would take “decades” for the NSA to return to the pre-Snowden era of unchecked power.
Snowden legal adviser Jesselyn Radack dismissed Hayden’s allegations, saying that both a federal court and President Obama’s own review panel have said what Snowden uncovered was likely unconstitutional, and that this vindicates him as a whistleblower.
Reactions like Hayden’s are all-too-common in the current administration, with officials declaring anyone who reports inconvenient facts to be guilty of treason, and blaming them for the inevitable fallout from illegal and unconscionable programs.
As an ex-NSA operative, I'd say that anything that pushes the NSA away from domestic surveillance and back toward its legitimate foreign intel functions, strengthens, rather than weakens, the agency.
Quite the contrary General Hayden. You are the traitor! Good that the NSA has been weakened domestically as it should. Internationally, the NSA is the same so please stop with your bogus claim.
Well said and I agree.
The story here is that Hayden made his comments on "Face the Nation." Hayden should have "faced the nation" from the dock a long time ago. Instead, he is granted mass public access to promote propoganda and fraud.
Hayden's right that there are traitors in the US. He sees one in the mirror every morning when he shaves. Snowden for President in 2016!
Hayden is un-American and a vile human being. He should be in prison.
Hayden is a "CRETIN" and is not responsible for his actions.
liars and thieves tend to have an "infinitely harder" plying their trade when they are known to be such by all
liars and thieves tend to have an "infinitely harder" time plying their trade when they are known to be such by all
He says the nsa is "infinitely weaker" like that's a bad thing