Edward Snowden Describes When The CIA Got A Swiss Banker Drunk And Put Him Behind The Wheel
David Arnold/Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA/NASA
Edward Snowden, the ex-NSA contractor and ex-CIA employee who leaked documents about invasive government spying programs, has had growing doubts about the government for a long time, according to a interview in the Guardian.
One "formative" incident occurred around 2007, when the young technical analyst was working for the CIA under diplomatic cover in Geneva, Switzerland.
It involved a Swiss banker, as described in the Guardian:
CIA operatives were attempting to recruit a Swiss banker to obtain secret banking information. Snowden said they achieved this by purposely getting the banker drunk and encouraging him to drive home in his car. When the banker was arrested for drunk driving, the undercover agent seeking to befriend him offered to help, and a bond was formed that led to successful recruitment.
"Much of what I saw in Geneva really disillusioned me about how my government functions and what its impact is in the world," he says. "I realised that I was part of something that was doing far more harm than good."
Snowden says he thought about leaking government documents during his CIA stint in Geneva but refrained for fear that these secrets could endanger people, not machines and systems, and because he was hopeful about the election of Barack Obama.
Six years later, Snowden couldn't take it anymore.
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