Whistleblowing

CIA, NSA Missed Warning Signs of Snowden Betrayal

...The report includes new disclosures that security officials at both CIA and NSA failed to recognize that Snowden was likely to betray the government’s trust and disclose significant U.S. intelligence capabilities that have been lost or restricted as a result.

For example, NSA security officials failed to conduct a routine check of Snowden’s educational background. Had they done so, NSA would have learned that Snowden had dropped out of high school in his sophomore year, yet falsely stated on his resume he had graduated from “Maryland High School” in 2001. There is no high school in Maryland with that name.

Snowden also was granted a “top secret” security clearance in 2005 despite an associate warning security investigators he should not be given access to secrets.

Snowden was hired as a computer technician by a CIA contractor and converted to CIA employment in 2006 after obtaining a security clearance. While at CIA, he complained of harassment by a supervisor.

He was posted overseas, but was relieved of his position after altering CIA software improperly and disobeying orders.

Snowden then applied for work at NSA and was hired by an NSA contractor in 2009. However, the report revealed that CIA failed to update a security database with derogatory information about Snowden. As a result, NSA failed to learn of his problems at CIA before hiring him.