U.S. Fears Edward Snowden May Defect to China: Sources

[struggle4progress]

By JAMES GORDON MEEK (@meekwire) , MATTHEW MOSK (@mattmosk) and SHUSHANNAH WALSHE (@shushwalshe)
June 13, 2013

... As a young man, Snowden lived on his own, according to a neighbor, and took work at a Japanese anime website based in a residential home on the Fort Meade, Maryland Army post, just one block from the National Security Agency headquarters ...

David Charney, a psychiatrist who works regularly with CIA agents and who has personally evaluated some of the nation's most notorious spies, said in an interview that Snowden appears to fit a familiar archetype – that of a man who is perpetually trying to prove that he is smarter than his resume may indicate ...

Army officials at the Pentagon said Snowden actually didn't enlist until May 7, 2004 and reported for duty at Fort Benning, Georgia, a month later ... Army officials at Fort Benning said .. their records showed .. no evidence that Snowden had ever reported for duty at the base ...

Snowden's Army record show he attended Catonsville Community College ... CCBC says they have "no record" of a student with that name ever attending ...

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/us-fears-edward-snowden-defect-china-sources/story?id=19389672

[BeyondGeography]

1. There is an "Ed Snowden's Excellent Adventure" aspect to this

Guys get so easily bored.

[Enrique]

2. this sounds more like smear than fear

are government officials in the habit of sharing their "fears" anonymously with reporters? Is it some kind of therapy for them?

More likely imho, the anonymous officials are putting ideas in the public's head about their target Snowden. i.e. insinuating that he is a traitor.

[Bodhi BloodWave]

7. isn't politicians these days prone to sharing a ton of information anonymously with reporters?

i mean, you don't have to wait long between stories that starts or contains the line 'information said/given by somebody asking for anonymity due to not being authorized to speak fully' or alternativly 'due to the topic/meeting being near completion but 'reason' prevents it'

[randome]

3. "...a man who is perpetually trying to prove that he is smarter than his resume may indicate..."

That rings true to me, just my armchair opinion of him.

His girlfriend on Lawrence O'Donnell last night said he was an "IT genius" but also admitted she didn't know very much about IT.

I wonder now if he simply bamboozled everyone around him into believing he was much more talented than he truly was.

Of course how he got his hands on security documents makes one suspicious but, on the other hand, if he truly was an IT genius, you'd think he would have shown us Obama's email or something, as he claimed it was so easy to get.

We would be having far fewer disagreements over this guy if he showed even meager evidence of his allegations.

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[font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font]
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[sharp_stick]

4. I wonder how his Libertarian

ideology would play there?

I doubt he'd be stupid enough to pick China but you never know.

[geek tragedy]

5. Pay for play, it's the American and also the Chinese way. nt

[Downwinder]

6. Have to chuckle at this.

Are they just giving Top Secret clearances away these days. The FBI used to go out and document an applicant's past.

Does not make me feel more secure.