Certain people, who had their egos (not national security) terribly hurt by the Edward Snowden revelations, continue to call Snowden names and stuff and show their outrage toward him for exposing the NSA’s wrongdoing. It would seem, however, they might want to redirect their outrage toward another former employee of the NSA: ex-chief Keith Alexander.
It was revealed yesterday the NSA is now being sued by a reporter for not disclosing Alexander’s financial records in the interest of making sure there were no conflicts of interest occurring while all of the other civil rights violations were being carried out under his direction. And it has been noted by the Atlantic that this information, by law, should be made public unless it is stopped by the president because it could be damaging to national security, a claim that would be completely absurd.
Just a million $ per month…
And this isn’t the only question (or even the most important one) about money surrounding Alexander. He is now offering his consulting services on security for the tiny sum of $1,000,000…per month. Looking at this situation and considering his expertise, it is hard not to see the obvious: he is offering his knowledge of classified government information and tactics for money. This is illegal, as Representative Alan Grayson has pointed out:
Disclosing or misusing classified information for profit is, as Mr. Alexander well knows, a felony. I question how Mr. Alexander can provide any of the services he is offering unless he discloses or misuses classified information, including extremely sensitive sources and methods. Without the classified information that he acquired in his former position, he literally would have nothing to offer to you. (Emphasis added)
In other words, when Alexander isn’t busy getting annihilated in interviews by comedians or admitting he lied to Congress, he is asking for a ton of money to shield companies from the snooping of the agency he former headed.
And this is happening in comparison to the wrongful demonizing of Snowden, who did not sell his secrets to anyone and did his whistle blowing in a manner that was very controlled so as not to put any lives in danger or damage national security. Unless, of course, someone can actually provide an iota of evidence to the contrary, which hasn’t happened even a year later.
This brings us to a very fair question: who is the real villain now, Alexander or Snowden? The answer gets more and more obvious as time goes on.
