NEW YORK, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Vice Chairman of Booz-Allen and former intelligence director Mike McConnell explains in an interview with the Wall Street Journal how Snowden cracked the NSA.
In an interview with assistant managing editor John Bussey, McConnell said Snowden started out as a security guard and then moved on to the CIA program, and it was after the CIA that he wanted to work in the elite sectors of the NSA.
In order to be accepted into the program McConnell says, "[Snowden] broke into, administratively, he broke into their system and he took the test. Stole the test with the answers and he took the test and he aced it. And he walked in and said you should hire me because I was this good on the test."
McConnell went on to say the NSA offered Snowden a position at a much lower rank than he wanted, and his narcissism drove him to turn on the agency. Snowden then targeted Booz-Allen as an employer because the contractor has more access than other firms due to their type of mission work. During his employment at the company, the NSA brought him into the facility for training and that is when he stole the documents.
McConnell made a point to say that is was that it was the government who vetted and cleared Snowden for his work in intelligence. As to the damage to Booz-Allen, he said that the company's stock value has increased 10 percent with no perceptible damage.
[WSJ Live]
