Was Edward Snowden a Spy? The Answer Remains Classified
Was Edward Snowden a Spy? The Answer Remains Classified
Eli Lake
Bloomberg
Since Snowden's arrival in Moscow, he has had, and continues to have, contact with Russian intelligence services," it says. This would stand to reason. After all, Snowden would have invaluable information on the inner working of U.S. signal intelligence collection. Of course Russian intelligence officers would want to talk to him.
For now, though, this claim should be treated as speculation. The report does not provide any evidence to support it. Snowden denies that he is "in cahoots with Russian intel." The report also confirms that Snowden did not arrive in Moscow with the hard drives of documents that he provided to journalists.
Chris Inglis, who was the deputy director of the NSA when Snowden first leaked the documents, earlier this year said, "I don't think he was in the employ of the Chinese or the Russians, I don't see any evidence to support that." He also said that he believed Snowden had intended to go to Latin America after he gave the hard drives to Greenwald and Poitras, and that his plan appeared to be hatched on the fly. The Inglis version of events is supported by other senior officials. The current head of the NSA, Admiral Michael Rogers, told the Defense News in 2014 that it was possible Snowden was a foreign agent, but he was "probably not."
Given all of this confusion, the U.S. intelligence community should declassify the new report's section on foreign influence. If this is really an open question, then the American people deserve to see all the evidence. If he was a spy, it would mean that our counter-intelligence professionals were outwitted again by Russia, just as they were with the moles Robert Hanssen and Aldrich Ames. If Snowden really is who he claims to be, this too should be a matter of public record.
Instead, the U.S. intelligence community has added to the public's confusion by refusing to declassify the information. As a result, the redacted section of the House Intelligence Committee report on foreign influence is a species of innuendo. The public can't see the evidence, but trust us, there is something.