[mtgx]

It's of their own doing:

https://www.salon.com/2013/06/11/500000_contractors_can_acce...

Also, I believe I read a recent article about them allowing even more private companies access to this stuff, but I can't find a link right now.

[mhneu]

It's partially George Bush's doing - he put a rule into place saying the government had to hire more contractors. Fits with the GOP plans to weaken the govt to enable tax cuts for the wealthy, but the increasing use of contractors has been bad for security.

Full time federal employees take a different oath and generally feel more loyalty to the agency.

[bokglobule]

Ah, maybe not. Watch the film "A Good American". It's out on Netflix.

People are people. Govt employees can have agendas that are bad for the rest of us just like contractors.

[austincheney]

I had trouble taking that article seriously. It was really preachy and everybody but Snowden is apparently a mindless idiot.