In an interview with the Washington Post, Lon Snowden -- father of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden -- said sequestration can be blamed for his son getting access to secret data.
Edward has said he took his final government contracting job with Booz Allen Hamilton in Hawaii to gain access to sensitive NSA information. But his father said Edward told him that his previous contracting job had been eliminated because of the federal budget sequestration.
“As a father, it pains me what he did,’’ Snowden said. “I wish my son could have simply sat in Hawaii and taken the big paycheck, lived with his beautiful girlfriend and enjoyed paradise. But as an American citizen, I am absolutely thankful for what he did."
Edward Snowden was fired by Booz Allen Hamilton, where he had worked as a contract employee, days after he leaked information about the NSA's phone surveillance programs to The Guardian.
Snowden's father has granted several interviews about his son, who has been stuck in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport since arriving from Hong Kong on June 23. Snowden's father said he is grateful to President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government for protecting his son.
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