[Newsweek] Whistleblower Edward Snowden hit out at Central Intelligence Agency Director Gina Haspel on Thursday, questioning how the CIA chief was able to get "promoted" despite overseeing the country's torture program. Speaking at a conference on "National Security Whistleblowing and Government Secrecy" in London, U.K. via videolink, the National Security agency whistleblower, who fled to Russia from the U.S. in 2013, said America's "culture of impunity" has "corrupted not just our system of intelligence, but really, our system of government."
Snowden, who copied and leaked highly classified information from the NSA in 2013, exposing a number of global surveillance programs run by the NSA and the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance, said Americans should question how Haspel could get promoted to the top job in the CIA.
"People just want to get ahead... They want to be the best," Snowden said. "So what does it tell them when they see that you can literally torture people and you will be promoted rather than prosecuted?"
It was a concern shared by many Democrats and watchdog groups after President Donald Trump decided to nominate Haspel for the top CIA job.