General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why did it take a Democratic administration for Snowden to become a dissident? [View all]Recursion
(56,582 posts)Snowden was responsible for computer security for CIA assets in Geneva. (State has people that do that for State. You're actually arguing with a low-level one right now.) He was given diplomatic cover. This means the Department of State gave him a diplomatic passport and falsely claimed he was working for them rather than the CIA. (Think about it for a second: when he was applying for his visa for Geneva do you think he told the Swiss consulate wherever he was, "well, you see, I work for the CIA..."?) State may have said he did a number of things, including HVAC, but the CIA doesn't send people to fix ventilation systems. General Services is a pretty common place to stash diplomatic cover people; it's kind of a running joke in all diplo communities. "He mops the floor", etc.
That is what "diplomatic cover" means, and the people who receive it are known as "spies".