Edward Snowden, the Web-savvy National Security Agency information leaker who’s now in hiding, didn’t always believe in the right of the people to know their government’s behind-the-scenes activities.
In 2009, he said such informants “should be shot,” The New York Post reported. Moreover, they should be shot “in the balls,” he posted on a Web forum in 2009, in reference to groups like WikiLeaks and media outlets like The New York Times that publish sensitive information from the government, The Post said.
He went by the username TheTrueHOOHA on the technology news site Ars Technica, The Post reported.
His words: “Are they TRYING to start a war? Jesus Christ. You don’t put that [expletive] in the NEWSPAPER … That [expletive] is classified for a reason.”
Mr. Snowden has vowed to release to the public sensitive NSA information if he’s captured. He’s already leaked specifics about the intelligence community’s surveillance program, including details of data collection on Americans who are not suspected of crimes, and that has gone forth absent warrants.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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