"I still can't believe he leaked the info. I mean good for him for having enough conscience to let the world know of what he did for a living. However, the salary he gave up on top of losing his family and girlfriend...not to mention the fact he has to stay in hiding makes you wonder if it was worth it. Because most likely there are people after him to "shut him up" afraid he's gonna leak more info."
Well, he has libertarian leanings -- more or less said he was for Paul last election -- & he tried to get into military special forces, which is generally Not something you do if you aren't a bit of an idealist, because you really are called on to go above & beyond... most can't manage even the initial training. If you're in the military & show skills that they want to recruit into special forces, they'll apply a bit of pressure [did to my nephew], but to want to join on your own takes even a bit more idealism.
As far as revealing his identity, probably the smartest thing he could do -- at least if someone grabs him there's a greater chance that any witnesses will recognize him. OTOH he is an easy target now for all sorts of kidnappers I imagine -- I mean if he disappears everyone suspects the military &/or intelligence communities, whilst they can shop him to all sorts of organizations & governments, & they don't have to prove what he knows to a prospective buyer 'cause he's already done that.
Now the gov wants him of course, but I think that's more for revenge & setting an example -- after all, his qualifications would place him as a lower grade employee in the intelligence community, yet he had access to apparently a lot of stuff you'd think was above his pay grade, and he did make it out of there with classified docs, so there are probably hundreds if not thousands of people that could [may] have been doing the same thing for years, only grabbing stuff used to fill offshore bank accounts.
"I have serious doubts that he's as pure as the wind driven Snowden."
Few if anyone is... Call me a cynic [I will], most people value &/or need the self-image that they've built up over their lifetime -- sometimes they'll do things that don't seem to have any profit motive so-to-speak, but the profit to them is in enhancing that self image. I'll pick on Gates because he's easy & I'm lazy -- if he was really altruistic he'd also very publicly fund non-profits etc. that don't share his philosophies on how their programs should be run, &/or he'd spend more time/effort encouraging altruistic behavior from others. That's not to say he doesn't do good, but I wonder how much of it is really to help him sleep at night? Not kicking a gift horse, but reminding that you can't buy your way into heaven.
Knowledge, information, & data = power. Power corrupts. Those with power seek to maintain it, seek to hoard it, seek to grow it, & by nature seek to keep it from others. Power being relative is meaningless if everyone has the same amount.
We know this -- have always known it -- but haven't yet adapted our response & controls to the so-called digital age. The intelligence communities do stuff we don't like to think about, yet we want/need what we hope they can provide. Marry the two -- not regulating I guess I'd say digital-based power, & turning a blind eye to the lack of ethics necessary for effective spying -- and you have today's NSA. You can't neuter the intelligence community or it just becomes a political tool, but neither can you afford to let it become it's own branch of government -- some say that sort of neutering led to 9/11, while others point to an overpowerful intelligence agency for problems in & caused by Pakistan, e.g. the Taliban, which were originally encouraged as a way to control Afghanistan. We have to be careful about establishing rules for regulation -- bad people love regulation when they can engineer it to benefit themselves &/or their ideology -- but it shouldn't be impossible... it just has to be done in the daylight.
