Blame Snowden Leaks on ... Sequester?

Father's interview with Washington Post raises the possibility
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 31, 2013 3:22 PM CDT
Blame Snowden Leaks on ... Sequester?
In this frame grab taken from Rossiya 24 channel, Lon Snowden, the father of Edward Snowden, speaks during an interview to the state-owned channel from Washington.   (AP Photo/Rossiya 24 via APTN)

Edward Snowden might not be dropping any bombshells like this one had it not been for the sequester. That intriguing theory is bubbling up this afternoon thanks to an interview that Snowden's father, Lon, gave to the Washington Post. The key paragraph from interviewer Jerry Markon:

  • “Edward has said he took his final government contracting job with Booz Allen Hamilton in Hawaii to gain access to sensitive NSA information. But his father said Edward told him that his previous contracting job had been eliminated because of the federal budget sequestration.”

Which means, writes Emily Heil in a separate Post item, that "in a parallel universe in which there was no sequester, Snowden might be just another contractor collecting checks, instead of an internationally notorious fugitive camping out in the Moscow airport." If this is true—and it's not exactly an ironclad theory—legislators might want to heed a lesson, adds Evan McMurry at Mediaite. It would prove that "capricious budget cuts can have consequences far beyond their impact on the federal government’s bottom line, and far out of the control of the legislators who recklessly trumpet them." (More Edward Snowden stories.)

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