"SHOOT THEM IN THE BALLS!!" What Edward Snowden Said About Leakers in 2009

STRONG LANGUAGE WARNING: This post contains the actual chat conversation of Edward Snowden, the CIA employee who leaked classified US Documents to the Guardian revealing secret programs.  In the chats Snowden uses foul language which has not been edited out. 

 Since he moved to Switzerland in 2007 Edward Snowden (who is now living in a Moscow Airport waiting to be granted asylum) would log into #arsificial, a channel on Ars Technica's public Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and converse with other users under the nom de plume of TheTrueHOOHA.

After searching through years of server guano, today the folks at Ars Technica published some of Snowden's chat conversations.  The most interesting conversation occurred in January 2009.  The future leaker of secrets  vented his rage over a New York Times article about US actions in Iran, which was based on confidential leaks.

Snowden Railed against  the Times publishing "Classified Shit" and suggested that the anonymous leaker should be "Shot in The Balls"

< TheTrueHOOHA>	HOLY SHIT
< TheTrueHOOHA>	WTF NYTIMES
< TheTrueHOOHA>	Are they TRYING to start a war? Jesus christ they're like wikileaks
< User19>	they're just reporting, dude.
< TheTrueHOOHA>	They're reporting classified shit
< User19>	shrugs
< TheTrueHOOHA>	about an unpopular country surrounded by enemies already engaged in a war and about our interactions with said country regarding planning sovereignity violations of another country you don't put that shit in the NEWSPAPER
< User19>	meh
< TheTrueHOOHA>	moreover, who the fuck are the anonymous sources telling them this?
< TheTrueHOOHA>	those people should be shot in the balls.
< TheTrueHOOHA>	But the tense exchanges also prompted the White House to step up intelligence-sharing with Israel and brief Israeli officials on new American efforts to subtly sabotage Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, a major covert program that Mr. Bush is about to hand off to President-elect Barack Obama.
< TheTrueHOOHA>	HELLO? HOW COVERT IS IT NOW? THANK YOU
< User19>	meh
< TheTrueHOOHA>	I wonder how many hundreds of millions of dollars they just completely blew.
< User19>	you're over reacting. its fine.
< TheTrueHOOHA>	It's not an overreaction. They have a HISTORY of this shit
< User19>	with flowersand cake.
< User20>	[User21]'s mushrooms are :o
< TheTrueHOOHA>	these are the same people who blew the whole "we could listen to osama's cell phone" thingthe same people who screwed us on wiretappingover and over and over againThank god they're going out of business.
< User19>	the NYT?
< TheTrueHOOHA>	Hopefully they'll finally go bankrupt this year. yeah.

The chat resumed a few minutes later:

< User19>	meh.
< User19>	I enjoy the news.
< User19>	Its nice they report on stuff.
< TheTrueHOOHA>	I enjoy it when it's ethical reporting.
< TheTrueHOOHA>	political corruption, sure
< TheTrueHOOHA>	scandal, yes
< User19>	is it unethical to report on the government's intrigue?
< TheTrueHOOHA>	VIOLATING NATIONAL SECURITY? no
< User19>	meh.
< User19>	national security.
< TheTrueHOOHA>	Um, YEEEEEEEEEEEES.
< TheTrueHOOHA>	that shit is classified for a reason
< TheTrueHOOHA>	it's not because "oh we hope our citizens don't find out"
< TheTrueHOOHA>	it's because "this shit won't work if iran knows what we're doing."
Jan 10 20:59:56 * User19 shrugs
< TheTrueHOOHA>	None would speak on the record because of the great secrecy surrounding the intelligence developed on Iran.
< TheTrueHOOHA>	direct. quote.
< TheTrueHOOHA>	THEN WHY ARE YOU TALKING TO REPORTERS?!
Jan 10 21:01:25 * [User11] gives voice to TheTrueHOOHA
< TheTrueHOOHA>	"Those covert operations, and the question of whether Israel will settle for something less than a conventional attack on Iran, pose immediate and wrenching decisions for Mr. Obama."
< TheTrueHOOHA>	THEY'RE NOT COVERT ANYMORE
< TheTrueHOOHA>	Oh you've got to be fucking kidding me. Now the NYTimes is going to determine our foreign policy?
< TheTrueHOOHA>	And Obama?
< TheTrueHOOHA>	Obama just appointed a fucking POLITICIAN to run the CIA!
< User11>	yes unlike every other director of CIA ever
< User11>	oh wait, no
< TheTrueHOOHA>	I am so angry right now. This is completely unbelievable.
< User21>	I'm appointing ur mom to run my penis
< User21>	plus she can be secretary of my balls
< User11>	i get the feeling that you're angry because you don't actually understand what's going on...
< TheTrueHOOHA>	Actually, the whole "politician runs the CIA" thing is a new development
< User11>	uhhh
< TheTrueHOOHA>	Normally they were military or lawyers.
< User11>	have you ever heard of a man named george herbert walker bush?
< User11>	he ran the cia.
< TheTrueHOOHA>	OH, YOU MEAN ONLY 25 YEARS AGO?
< TheTrueHOOHA>	Dumbass.

I assume Snowden has changed his mind about the gun shot in the testicles since 2009, after all he said he took the job at Booz Allen because he wanted to be a leaker. I would suggest however, that his original anger about people who leaked classified information was well-placed.

If you want to read the entire ARS story please click here.