So far the Obama Administration has shown no ability whatsoever to manage the crisis or reassure anybody that it knows what needs to be done
Although some observers like the Wall Street Journal's Brett Stephen's have observed that "... [H]owever the Snowden episode turns out ...what it mainly illustrates is that we are living in an age of American impotence (See "Stephens: The Age of American Impotence -- As the Edward Snowden saga illustrates, the Obama administration is running out of foreign influence" by Brett Stephens, 6/24/13, Wall Streeet Journal/Online [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324637504578565530512048940.html]); the most profound real threat to American interests is that the Snowden Affair is a direct breach of our modern cyber-Maginot line in the technologically reinforced defensive perimeter of the homeland. Exacerbating that breach is the fact that even weeks into the crisis we don't know how wide or deep that gash into our vitals actually is.
Several U.S. officials have said that U.S. intelligence agencies are worried because they do not yet know how much highly sensitive material is in the possession of former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, and that his whereabouts, ultimate destination and current intentions are unclear (See "U.S. Officials Don't Know How Much Secret Material Snowden Took", 6/24/13, Newsmax/Reuters [http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/snowden-took-secret-material/2013/06/24/id/511649#ixzz2XFVSJizO]). Investigators believe Snowden, who had been working in Hawaii for an NSA contractor, was partly successful at covering his tracks as he burrowed into a broad array of information about operations conducted by NSA, as well as its British equivalent, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).
During a weekend television appearance, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, Chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that Snowden possessed around 200 secret documents, but a non-government source familiar with Snowden's materials reports that Senator Feinstein had grossly understated the size of Snowden's document haul. That source indicated Snowden left for Hong Kong with thousands of documents copied from the NSA files. Two U.S. national security sources that were among the people Reuters spoke to confirmed that investigators believe Snowden possesses a substantial amount of secret material, though they declined to discuss numbers.
According to a report that appeared in the Washington Post, "The ability of contractor-turned-fugitive Edward Snowden to evade arrest is raising new concerns among U.S. officials about the security of top-secret documents he is believed to have in his possession — and about the possibility that he could willingly share them with those who assist his escape..." (See "U.S. worried about security of files Snowden is thought to have" by Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller, 6/24/13, Washington Post [http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-officials-worried-about-security-of-files-snowden-is-thought-to-have/2013/06/24/1e036964-dd09-11e2-85de-c03ca84cb4ef_story.html]). "A former senior U.S. official said that the material that has leaked publicly would be of limited use to China or Russia but that if Snowden also stole files that outline U.S. cyber-penetration efforts, the damage of any disclosure would be multiplied. The official, like others in this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity because the official wasn’t authorized to discuss the matters on the record..."
According to the Washington Post report, the NSA has teams of analysts scouring systems that they think Snowden may have accessed, and these analysts are seeking to retrace Snowden's steps online, so as to assemble a catalogue of the material he may have taken. “They think he copied so much stuff — that almost everything that place does, he has,” said one former government official, referring to the NSA, where Snowden worked as a contractor for Booz Allen Hamilton while in the NSA’s Hawaii facility. “Everyone’s nervous about what the next thing will be, what will be exposed.”
The damage assessment being conducted by U.S. officials is expected to take “a few months, at best,” said a senior intelligence official. “We’re looking for all of the information that was disclosed, and assessing the damage it may have caused in terms of national security sources....”
Many key government spokespersons have openly said all of this is very bad --- only a few have suggested (off the record) how bad it actually might be or become. Or, that it really might extend to what some have described as "everything" !
UPDATE: SNOWDEN DID UNCALCULATED DAMAGE TO NATIONAL SECURITY -- BUT OBAMA DOESN"T SEE THE NEED TO GET PERSONALLY INVOLVED
ReplyDeleteSECDEF HAGEL WANTS RUSSIA TO DO THE RIGHT THING
In a terse item on his remarks by Reuters, the news service reported that U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said at a press briefing on Wednesday that intelligence leaks by National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden were a serious breach that violated U.S. laws and damaged national security, but that the extent of the damage to our security is still being assessed ( See "Defense chief says Snowden leaks were 'serious security breach" by David Alexander and Snadra maler , 6/25/13, Reuters [http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/26/us-usa-security-hagel-idUSBRE95P18M20130626]). During his press conference, Hagel made the following statements: "I would hope that the Russians do the right thing here and turn Snowden over to the United States [adding that Moscow evidently had not made a final decision since Snowden reportedly was still at the airport].... He has broken laws.... There was damage done to this country by the Snowden leaks. We are assessing that now but make no mistake, this violation of our laws was a serious security breach."
POTUS OBAMA DOESN'T WANT TO GET INVOLVED WITH RUSSIA'S PUTIN OR CHINA'S XI JINPING OVER SNOWDEN OR TAKE ANY AGGRESSIVE MEASURES
During a press conference in Senegal on Thursday, President Obama said that he doesn't think that he should not have to speak personally with the leaders of Russia and China regarding self-professed NSA leaker Edward Snowden.
Obama said he has not directly spoken with Russia's Vladimir Putin or Chinese President Xi Jinping. He flashed some annoyance as he declared he has not called either leader because "I shouldn't have to.... This is something that routinely is dealt with between law enforcement officials in various countries" ( See "Obama downplays Snowden case, says US not 'scrambling jets' to get 'hacker' " by Ed Henry and others, 6/27//13 [http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/27/obama-downplays-snowden-case-says-us-not-scrambling-jets-to-get-hacker/#ixzz2XREGR5Im]). He also said he was “not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker....”
According to an NBC News report, the president struck a seemingly dismissive tone regarding the former defense contractor who claimed to have leaked details of two top-secret government data-gathering programs before initiating an international manhunt that has grown to involve the governments of China, Ecuador, and Russia. Quoting President Obama the NBC report went on to say that the President would not engage in “...wheeling and dealing and trading and a whole host of other issues, simply to get a guy extradited so he can face the justice system here in the United States.” (See "Obama: not 'scrambling jets' to get NSA leaker Snowden" by Jim Maceda, F. Brinley Bruton and Matthew DeLuca, 6/27/13, NBC News [http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/27/19166043-obama-not-scrambling-jets-to-get-nsa-leaker-snowden]).
However, it should be noted that according to both Fox and NBC, even the President did acknowledge that many in the U.S. Government are worried that Snowden might have other documents in his possession that he may “dribble out." "I continue to be concerned about the other documents that he may have. That’s part of the reason why we’d like to have Mr. Snowden in custody.... But what I think we’re going to continue to do is make sure that we are following the various channels that are well established and the rules that are well established to get this thing done,” Obama said.