Why did it take a Democratic administration for Snowden to become a dissident?

[MADem]

299. OK, look at what you just wrote.

2 Years in the Guard (so long as the discharge isn't general or OTH, that is an indicator of reliability);

**A frigging MASTER's degree (indicative of stick-to-it-iveness, beyond an associates or bachelors, to the graduate school level, and a fair share of brains, an ability to retain and regurgitate as well as formulate opinions after careful study and draw conclusions);

**Charming personality and intellect (an ability to 'sell'--either a product or one's capabilities, and the brains to carry through).

She wasn't a "security guard" who didn't even finish the courses to get himself a GED, who couldn't produce a high school diploma, never mind an associate's degree.

Snowden didn't get hired on "charm and intellect." He had to have something that put him over the top. He either had "work experience" and a good recommendation, OR he forged a degree and no one checked up on him.

Also, he didn't have a TS clearance as a security guard. I'd bet money on it. If he transitioned to CIA with a TS, he was doing something else. You don't spend that kind of money for a guy who checks ID cards or rattles doorknobs.

People with TS/SCIs are a dime a dozen--it's not like they were terribly difficult to get (most of the people I knew in my uniformed days had one) -- though I wager Snowden has changed that dynamic.

From all reports, Snowden DID have the skills they needed--his co-workers down the years have said as much. I've never believed he was completely incompetent. He may not have been as "genius-y" across the board as some would suggest, but he plainly had talent in some areas. What I have believed is that he has some issues, issues that cause him to want to break into files and steal shit--as he was doing when he got that DEROS letter shortly before he beat feet from CIA in Switzerland and landed at Dell in Japan.

Now, all that said, do I think he dislikes Obama? Hell yeah. Do I think he is a Libertarian, selfish, mean-spirited "fuck 'em all" Paulbot? Absolutely. Do I think he was engaged in creating a "collection" of classified materials, for whatever reasons--a rainy day, perhaps, or maybe he's like that weirdo who was convicted of stealing thousands of books from the public library? Yep. Do I think he would have run like a rabbit had his SF86 not been up for revetting, and had USIS not been under investigation at the time for fraudulent practices, and someone in personnel had advised him that there was a problem (but they hired him anyway and resubmitted the form)? Absolutely NOT.

I think the re-adjudication of the clearance, which he HAD to know was coming once he was advised there were issues with the education part of his resume, is what set this whole mess in motion when it happened. The speed with which he gathered his stuff up and ran, with a stupid and half-baked, poorly thought out escape route, to me, suggests that he wasn't prepared. He may have intended to do this all along, but I don't think he intended to do it so soon.

Do I have proof of that being the reason that he ran? Nope. But like the Eight Ball says "Signs Point to Yes."