Former CIA chief: Snowden should be “hanged by the neck until dead”

[Wilikon]

After all the virtual public flogging National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden has received, in the past week a few voices have suggested cutting him some slack.

At a Tuesday closed-door meeting with tech leaders, one unnamed participant suggested to Obama that Snowden be pardoned; Obama said he couldn't do that. During a 60 Minutes report on the leaks that aired Sunday, though, even an NSA official suggested it might be worth discussing amnesty—if and only if he returns the leaked documents securely, almost surely an impossibility at this point. (CBS news has been busy defending itself against accusations that Sunday's show was a "puff piece.")

Even that tiny, tentative olive branch seems to have crossed a line for security hawks. NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander dismissed the idea, comparing Snowden to "a hostage taker taking 50 people hostage, shooting 10, and then say[ing], 'You give me full amnesty and I'll let the other 40 go.'"

Former CIA director James Woolsey responded to the suggestion of amnesty even more strongly, saying in a Fox News interview that Snowden should be hanged.

"I think giving him amnesty is idiotic,” said Woolsey, who ran the CIA from 1993 to 1995. “He should be prosecuted for treason. If convicted by a jury of his peers, he should be hanged by his neck until he is dead."

The tough talk on Snowden came the day after a federal judge found the NSA's broad phone surveillance program is likely unconstitutional. US District Judge Richard Leon is the first federal judge to consider the program who does not sit on the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/12/former-cia-chief-snowden-should-be-hanged-by-the-neck-until-dead/

[Mike Christ]

I long for the day news and bias are distinguishable by the general public.

Where does Fox get its funding?

[dank]

Says a member of the largest criminal organization in the world.  What a hypocrite.

Guess he would say the same to me, to anyone who shares opposing views that go against the principle of forcing morality through violence.  Guess he would say the same about the entire generation of youth.

Hope he doesn't have kids.

[bryant.coleman]

First lets do these:

1. Hang the Clintons (both Hillary and Bill) for bombing to death thousands of Serbian children, and then lying about it.

2. Hang George Bush for causing the death of 1 million Iraqis.

3. Hang Obama for bullying every nation in the world, other than the US.

[Ekaros]

First lets do these:

1. Hang the Clintons (both Hillary and Bill) for bombing to death thousands of Serbian children, and then lying about it.

2. Hang George Bush for causing the death of 1 million Iraqis.

3. Hang Obama for bullying every nation in the world, other than the US.

3. Hang Obama for many many murders committed... Many well documented.

[beetcoin]

can these douchebags even prove that snowden's leaks have caused grave danger to american safety and well being? or do they just think he should be hanged because he hurt the police state?

[Hawker]

can these douchebags even prove that snowden's leaks have caused grave danger to american safety and well being? or do they just think he should be hanged because he hurt the police state?

Its a basic principle of data management that data gets shared on a "need to know" basis.  Snowden and Manning demonstrated that the US intelligence services failed to follow this principle and were recklessly letting almost anyone not only access data but download it.

Snowden and Manning made their bosses look like fools.  That's why the rhetoric is so ridiculously over the top.

[U1TRA_L0RD]

I wish that snowden could of released more info of what the corrupted U.S. is doing to other countries and our people!

[bryant.coleman]

I wish that snowden could of released more info of what the corrupted U.S. is doing to other countries and our people!

He will not do that. I think Snowden is having a deal with Putin, that he'll not provoke the US anymore. If he snaps the deal, then he may lose the Russian residency permit.

[hilariousandco]

It's very unlikely they will ever pardon him, even if he agrees to an amnesty. I hope he doesn't cave in and can live a happy life in some country somewhere. I consider him a hero. I don't see what he's done wrong other than expose crimes committed by the US & UK government

[cryptasm]

If governments/gov agencies have done nothing wrong, they've got nothing to hide 

[hilariousandco]

If governments/gov agencies have done nothing wrong, they've got nothing to hide 

Haha, yeah, that's what they usually tell us when we complain about systematic surveillance.

[chowderman]

CIA +1

Snowden is a criminal and a traitor, he deserves to be tried as one and found guilty and imprisoned forever!!

[dank]

Snowden is a righteous patriot.

Please research the CIA, the things they have done and the things they still do before +1ing the Criminals In Action.

And not even the CIA deserves to be imprisoned forever, everyone deserves to be forgiven.  But I cannot help if their fate is chosen otherwise through their actions.

[Vod]

First lets do these:

1. Hang the Clintons (both Hillary and Bill) for bombing to death thousands of Serbian children, and then lying about it.

2. Hang George Bush for causing the death of 1 million Iraqis.

3. Hang Obama for bullying every nation in the world, other than the US.

Non of those are treason against the US.

[dank]

War on drugs, a war in which we can no longer choose what chemicals to put in our bodies unless they're approved by the state, is this not treason?

[cryptasm]

Wonder what Woolsey thinks about all the CIA backed death squads who slaughtered thousands across Central America?

[U1TRA_L0RD]

I think Russia just gave Snowden asylum because Snowden would be a great spy for the Russian Agency.

[TheButterZone]

You first, Woolsey.

[TrailingComet]

Predictable but deplorable reaction if true