Nate Silver on Snowden:

[longship]

14. ProSense, here's my take.

I had a DOD Secret clearance in the 1980's while working at Boeing Military Airplane Company in Wichita, KS. It was fucking hell going through the paper work and interviews, but what was incredible was the FBI investigation which basically verified everything I put down on my application. I was over 30 years old and they went back to my high school days, even interviewing neighbors from that period.

My boss at the time told me about this during my interview for the job, but warned me that even if I was hired I would be fired if I didn't get the clearance. It was a condition of employment at that place because all the engineering was military. I worked for several years there, all on military aircraft.

So I have a real problem with Snowden's professed time line and his education history. I don't see him getting the clearances he professes to have had. It took me about three months to get mine.

Something just doesn't jibe here. I don't want to say he's lying, but there just may be a scandal within a non-scandal here.

After all, although I hate all this snooping, we have known about all of it for years here at DU. I even have an Olbermann Special Comment from the W era where he is pissed off about just about everything that's come out in the past week or so, including Prism (although there was no name to it at that time).

There is something vewy, vewy scwewy about this. (My best Mel Blanc imitation.)