[Amadou]

Don't assume that contractors start at the bottom. I've got personal experience doing DoD contracting and the entire reason I was there was because I was a systems expert. Even if they had not given me root access, I could have had it at any time because I knew the systems better than they did.

The details are fuzzy due to incomplete reporting, but it seems Snowden had worked for the CIA for many years before going to Booz Allen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden#Career_in_the_U....