John Bolton: Snowden is Guilty of Treason

Former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton doesn’t think NSA leaker Edward Snowden is a hero. At all.

Former U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told Bruce Wolf and Dan Proft on WLS that he thinks admitted leaker Edward Snowden, is guilty of treason:

“Number one, this man is a liar. He took an oath to keep the secrets that were shared with him so he could do his job. He said said he would not disclose them, and he lied. Number two, he lied because he thinks he’s smarter and has a higher morality than the rest of us. This guy thinks he has a higher morality, that he can see clearer than other 299-million 999-thousand 999 of us, and therefore he can do what he wants. I say that is the worst form of treason”.

Eh, I’d say that handing nuclear technology over to the Soviet Union during the Cold War was the worst form of treason. Bradley Manning’s leak got US allies killed — Manning is no hero and his treason is actual treason. Snowden clearly violated his non-disclosure agreements, but if he took any oaths to the Constitution in his NSA work, those oaths would supersede any NDAs.

I’m not locked into believing Snowden is a hero or a villain yet. We don’t know enough yet, both about him and about what else he may have done or who he may have worked with or be working with. His flight to Hong Kong was both stupid and disturbing. He fled to China. He will be extradited if they catch him, but maybe not after the Chinese work him over for information first. His actions expose a weak link in our intelligence infrastructure, which our enemies can and will exploit. Yet he told Americans something we needed to know, that our government is collecting vast amounts of data on us in the name of national security. Edward Snowden may be both a hero and villain at the same time.