HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019515.jpg

Secret Agent | 27 later say that the NSA experts who examined the documents that he had stolen were “totally incapable.” In any case, in February 2009, Snowden not only had a career- damaging “derog” in his file but faced an internal investigation of his suspicious computer activities. According to Drumheller, such an internal investigation would not be undertaken lightly or because of an “e-mail spat.” He said that such an investigation was “a big deal” involving the CIA Office of Security in Washington and possibly the FBI. It would also result in the temporary suspension of Snowden’s security clearance. This left Snowden with little real choice. If he wanted to avoid that investigation, he had to resign from the CIA, which he did in February 2009. That was the end of the security investigation. He was clearly bitter, posting on Ars Technica on January 10, 2009, “Obama just appointed a fucking POLITICIAN to run the CIA!” (He was referring to Leon Panetta, President Clinton’s former chief of staff.) Snowden attributed the origins of his antipathy to USS. intelligence to his 2007-9 experiences in the CIA. He later told ) Vanity Fair that the 2009 incident in the CIA convinced him that © working “through the system would lead only to reprisals.” Snowden, if not yet a ticking time bomb, was certainly a disgrun- tled intelligence worker before he ever got to the NSA. | | Epst_9780451494566_2p_all_r1.z.indd 27 ® 9/29/16 5:51 Pa | | HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019515