Well he is speaking about it now:

https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1491961623132651521

> Shows how afraid people are to mess with the CIA. They shouldn’t even be allowed to operate in the United States let alone collect information on American citizens.

I think it's incredible that politicians haven't cracked down on three letter agencies ages ago. The threat to themselves seems like it should have been obvious. As long as they're sucking up data on US citizens (including presidents and congressmen) it would make it very very easy for those with that data to control anyone. When the NSA can lie to congress and face no consequences is it because the government if fine with that or because they are too afraid to do anything? It makes the highest offices of our government seem very weak and vulnerable. If they're terrified to do anything about them, what possible chance could the rest of us have?

Perhaps politicians don't crack down on three letter agencies because when they try, their careers are ruined by those same three letter agencies. Here's an example: https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/48603/did-the-c.... See this for a previous HN discussion of the same: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25397168#25409105.

McCarthy is a pretty unique figure in US history in that he was infamous for propagating the second "red scare" in the US. That's not to discredit these reports by any means, but it's not like he was do-gooder either. He was a vicious politician that didn't hesitate to accuse his enemies of being communist, which sometimes resulted in arrest and prosecution. [0]"McCarthyist" anti-communist (i.e. opposition political organization) laws were passed that were later struck down by the Supreme Court.

His ability to accumulate power this way made him a major political target, which isn't quite the same as someone just trying to reel in the 3 letter agencies.

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism

> I think it's incredible that politicians haven't cracked down on three letter agencies ages ago.

Well, they'll kill you.

That's a good reason to not go after them if you have a nice job as a politician.

> I think it's incredible that politicians haven't cracked down on three letter agencies ages ago.

It only goes to show that the "Deep State" is real. But, of course, because it came from the "wrong guys" the idea got ridiculed to the Moon and back, all while the people writing about it had colleagues or close family working for said "Deep State" institutions.

> It only goes to show that the "Deep State" is real.

Sure -- this kind of "Deep State", the apolitical (or, if anything, authoritarian-right-leaning) one.

> But, of course, because it came from the "wrong guys" the idea got ridiculed to the Moon and back,

No, it got deservedly ridiculed because it claimed the existence of a left-leaning liberal "Deep State". Since fucking when is the military-industrial / spook-and-spy / government assassin community made up of leftie librul pinko commies?!? These are people who either don't give a shit about party politics, or if they care, tend to be right-wing hardliner God-and-country semi- (or full-on) Nazis.

> all while the people writing about it had colleagues or close family working for said "Deep State" institutions.

Sure... [Roll-eye emoji]

The leftie librul pinko commie writers (obviously rightly) denied the existence of the capital-D-Democratic leftie librul pinko commie "Deep State" that the right-wing hardliner God-and-country Nazi writers were gibbering about, and which you bought and are spouting forth here. (Wisen up and stop that shit, please. Thank you.)

The leftie librul pinko commie writers would probably be the first to admit the existence of the actually existing apolitical or right-wing hardliner God-and-country Nazi "Deep State", if that were ever up for debate, but ironically the right-wing hardliner God-and-country Nazi writers (and you?) would of course out-screech each other denying that.

It's because politicians have mutually beneficial relationships with three letter agencies.

Now that Epstein's out of the picture something will change, if new blood ever gets into politics.

The data is compartmentalized, he probably did not have an easy way to exfiltrate it. He had a good portion of NSA data available without too much suspicion, due to his position. Most CIA or NSA employees did not ever get that much access. There's probably a motivation factor as well.

Serious question:

We know Snowden took a LOT of documents related to spying on US citizens. I only remember seeing a few things that were released publicly. Is there still a lot more stuff he's going to release, or has released, just without much fanfare?

I'm genuinely curious because I remember people on both sides really freaked out about what he was going to release and I just haven't seen the supposed troves of information he was going to release.

Is it mainly just because its irrelevant so many years on now?

> Is there still a lot more stuff he's going to release, or has released, just without much fanfare?

According to the The Snowden Archive[0] about 400 documents were published through publications out of a total 50,000 documents Snowden collected. As for the rest—First Look Media (parent company of The Intercept) shut down access to its archive, as well as the team set up to handle them, in 2019:

"First Look CEO Michael Bloom said that as other major news outlets had “ceased reporting on it years ago,” The Intercept had decided to “focus on other editorial priorities” after expending five years combing through the archive.[1]"

Very cool! Poitras and Greenwald apparently retain full copies, as well as the outlets that received them in the first place I'd assume.

As a last note I'll leave a medium post by Barrett Brown[2], an excellent reporter whose series of columns in the Intercept received the National Magazine Award—incidentally he burned it on a livestream in protest against First Look Media's decision to shut down their Snowden archive (got to see it live, the YouTube video is private now though unfortunately)

[0]: https://www.cjfe.org/snowden

[1]: https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-intercept-shuts-down-acces...

[2]: https://barrettbrown.medium.com/why-the-intercept-really-clo...

> First Look Media (parent company of The Intercept)

> Poitras and Greenwald

Yeah, back then they all used to be among the good guys. One thing I haven't quite understood, though: When and why, exactly, did they turn into raving loony pro-Putin mouthpieces? Or is the plural unfair; is it just Greenwald?

The journalists vetted and decided what to publish. Not all of it was released. Some was probably released and ignored for one reason or another.

From what I understand, Snowden had access to a whole trove of NSA data that he chose to leak. He might not have had similar access to CIA documents.

It's unclear after reading this stuff if the program is still active or if this exposure is something historical

Seems as simple as the CIA murders people, while the NSA just collects intelligence, right?

It was supposed to be illegal for the CIA to operate within the US.

He was an NSA contractor, not a CIA one.

According to Wikipedia Snowden was a CIA employee between 2006 and 2009.