When has the CIA and NSA admitted that they cannot prove he is a spy? Not that they have to, he was charged by the FBI who has a case. He has been charged with theft of government property and espionage. Both provable. He has not been charged with treason, although some Congressmen are trying to do so. But espionage carries the death penalty, so it really isn't necessary.
Yes, by all means, let's examine those documents.
Snowden's wide-ranging disclosures of secret documents did reveal
some matters of genuine public interest, which should never have been secret, particularly the extent of the NSA's collection of electronic data on Americans. This could have been revealed with the release of less than 5 documents rather than the thousands (some say almost a million) of documents stolen.
However, Snowden also disclosed a large number of documents that had nothing to do with Americans' privacy. His disclosures include information about U.S. hacking of Chinese computer systems; U.S. spying on Russian President Dmitri Medvedev during the 2009 G20 summit London (and simultaneous British surveillance of other targets); the existence of 80 NSA listening stations around the globe, including one in Berlin which was used to monitor the cell phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel; the US program to develop a Quantum computer capable of breaking any code, and much more.
Many of these disclosures simply showed how the NSA is
doing the job it is supposed to do. These leaks make it harder for the NSA, our other intelligence agencies, and the State Department to do their jobs, negatively impacting U.S. foreign policy goals. Worse for our intelligence community, the total extent of the disclosures may never be known. Moreover, Snowden claims that he has many more stolen documents stored digitally around the world that he may release in the future if he is displeased further with the United States.
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), chairman of the Armed Service panel’s Intelligence, Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee and also a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said the briefing on the defense consequences of Snowden’s leaks was “very highly classified,” and therefore details couldn’t be discussed.
Thornberry did say that lawmakers “left the briefing disturbed and angered” after hearing that the leaks by the former Booz Allen Hamilton employee “went well beyond programs associated with the NSA and data collection.”
He characterized the leaks as so severe that they “compromise military capability and defense of the country” and “could cost lives” — while they “will certainly cost billions to repair.”
Thornberry did say that lawmakers “left the briefing disturbed and angered” after hearing that the leaks by the former Booz Allen Hamilton employee “went well beyond programs associated with the NSA and data collection.”
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