Edward Snowden's revelations regarding highly sensitive US techniques for gathering foreign-intelligence continue roiling Washington.

Edward Snowden's leaks are a grave threat

 to US national security

by John R. Bolton

Whatever his grandiose claims, the NSA leaker has betrayed his country by gifting China moral equivalence for its cyber warfare


Edward Snowden's revelations regarding highly sensitive US techniques for gathering foreign-intelligence continue roiling Washington. And because Snowden combined elements of truth swirled together with paranoid speculation, outright lies and pure hype, reviving a rational discussion has been hard.

Snowden's sympathizers and anti-American activists have so far largely controlled his story line. But that is changing, and with it, the likely tenor of the debate over whether Snowden is a hero or a traitor.

Snowden initially violated his oath to safeguard the national security secrets entrusted to him by revealing National Security Agency (NSA) programs arguably affecting the privacy of US citizens. The second wave of leaks, however, involved purported American cyber-intelligence activities globally and against China. Snowden claimed there were more than 61,000 US hacking operations globally, with hundreds of them directed at China and Hong Kong, and implied the existence of numerous other activities to surveil and counter Beijing's growing cyber-warfare capabilities.

Publicizing America's alleged intelligence-collection programs against China may not be identical to Philip Agee revealing the identities of US clandestine operatives, thereby endangering their lives, but it is close. We do not yet know whether Snowden jeopardized US agents, but vital sources and methods of intelligence gathering and operations are clearly at risk. In cyber terms, this is akin to Benedict Arnold scheming to betray West Point's defenses to the British, thereby allowing them to seize a key American fortification, splitting the colonies geographically at a critical point during the American Revolution.

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Unfortunately, Snowden clearly has more information to reveal, causing more damage to the United States and its allies. But we know enough already to conclude that Snowden has betrayed his country and the trust his countrymen placed in him in sensitive positions of confidence in our intelligence community.

So, make no mistake: any American politician who now calls Snowden a hero is not fit to be entrusted with America's national security.

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