HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019513.jpg

Secret Agent | 25

quickly uncovering his true identity. He was listed by his true name on the roster of the U.S. mission to the UN. By consulting personnel records, one would further discover that he did not actually work for the State Department. Because it was no secret that the U.S. mission in Geneva housed the CIA station for all of Switzerland, any outsider would think it probable that this brittle gambler who played the options market worked for the CIA.

Even though it cannot be precluded that Snowden was spotted in Geneva by another intelligence service, there is no evidence, at least that I know of, to suggest that he was approached by one. Nor is there reason to believe that if he had been contacted by a foreign service in 2008, he would have responded positively. Despite his indiscreet posting about his outside activities, he apparently still respected the boundaries of secrecy that had been clearly defined in the oath he had taken at the CIA. For example, after The New York Times published an article revealing secret American intelligence activities in Iran on January 11, 2009, Snowden railed against the newspaper on the Internet under his TrueHooHa alias. He wrote, "This shit is classified for a reason. . . . It's because this shit won't work if Iran knows what we are doing." He clearly recognized that revealing intelligence sources was extremely damaging. As for the Times, he said, "Hopefully they'll finally go bankrupt this year." When another Internet user asked him if it was unethical to release national security secrets, he answered, "YEEEEEEEEES."

As with every CIA officer, Snowden had to undergo a two-year evaluation and take a routine polygraph test. It was then, in December 2008, that his superior at the CIA placed a "derog" in his file, the CIA's shorthand for a derogatory comment, in an unfavorable evaluation. The reason remains somewhat murky. According to a New York Times story by the veteran intelligence reporter Eric Schmitt, Snowden's superior had suspected that Snowden "was trying to break into classified computer files to which he was not authorized to have access." Schmitt evidently had well-placed sources in the CIA. He said that he interviewed two senior American officials who were familiar with the case. According to what they told Schmitt, the CIA superior had decided to "send Snowden home." Officially, how-

Epst_9780451494566_2p_all_r1.z.indd 25
9/29/16 5:51 PM
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019513