The Crimea Blame Game Turns To Edward Snowden [View all]

[jakeXT]

WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence officials — in leaks to news organizations and quiet conversations in Washington — have begun to blame Edward Snowden for their failure to anticipate Russian aggression in Crimea.

But several current and former intelligence officials said that the U.S. failure to see into Vladimir Putin's plans is profound and long-running, and that there is little evidence that Snowden's leaks allowed Russia to evade U.S. intelligence more effectively than it had already been doing.

"The Snowden leaks had nothing to do with Ukraine," Fred Fleitz, a former senior CIA analyst, told BuzzFeed on Monday.

"Russia could have pulled this off without Snowden," said another former CIA analyst.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/carlomunoz/the-crimea-blame-game-turns-to-edward-snowden?s=mobile