There is no way this Snowden guy is on the level.

[longship]

41. I won't go that far, but something's screwy about this.

Too many questions about how a high school drop-out gets to such a level within a large nation's secret security infrastructure so quickly, and with apparently so few questions asked along the way.

That is the scandal within the non-scandal.

We knew about all the other stuff for years. It was all reported here on DU.

Now some people are shocked --I tell you, SHOCKED! -- that the USA is doing what we all here knew it was doing.

But how did this Snowden get access with so few credentials, so little formal education, and apparently so little vetting.

In the 1980's I had a DOD secret clearance. I have a mathematics and scientific background and am degreed with honors. I can state first hand that all such things are no trifle. Even with such a clearance you are only told what is necessary for your job. There are protections in place to keep it so, even within a single room with multiple workers one only shares what is allowed.

They are extremely paranoid about these things. (I have more than one amusing story.) If you have such a clearance there are checks and oversight. You don't get to go rogue or to look over others shoulders.

There's something fishy about this Snowden's story.