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Former CIA Director: Snowden Is Obviously A 'Prop' For Putin
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Michael Hayden.
Michael Hayden, the f ormer head of the National Security Agency and the CIA, said Edward Snowden was a "prop" for Vladimir Putin when he appeared alongside the Russian president on television Thursday.
Hayden shared his thoughts on Snowden's TV appearance after Business Insider asked whether he thought it showed that Snowden was being used as a Russian intelligence asset.
"Whatever else Snowden believes he has done, it's hard to deny that yesterday he was a prop for Vladimir Putin in a Russian Federation infomercial," Hayden said. "What could have motivated him to do that?"
Snowden went to Moscow after being charged under the Espionage Act last June.
Glenn Greenwald, the reporter who published many of the first stories based on Snowden's leaked NSA documents, mocked those who would criticize Snowden's appearance with Putin.
"Snowden should storm the Kremlin, take their surveillance docs & demand to be sent to the US: just like his brave patriotic critics would do," Greenwald wrote on his Twitter account Thursday.
Snowden wrote an op-ed Friday in The Guardian, explaining that he went on TV with the Russian leader to publicly question his surveillance practices.
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