Don’t Blame Edward Snowden for Paris Attacks

http://time.com/4114789/paris-attacks-intelligence/

Don’t Blame Edward Snowden for Paris Attacks

• James Bamford

Nov. 17, 2015

We can’t rely on intelligence alone to prevent terrorist attacks

Living very close to the French embassy in Washington, D.C., for many years, I often see happy crowds of people waiting in front to attend a cultural event. But on Saturday, for the second time this year, I saw tears in people’s eyes as they stood before a makeshift memorial made up of scattered bouquets of flowers and glowing candles. Among the tributes was a hand-drawn heart in the French tri-colors, torn apart, with the note, “Toujours l’amour”—Love always. It’s a feeling I’ve shared since studying law in Paris in the 1970s.
Given the enormous advances in espionage, the lessons learned from the Charlie Hebdo attack, and the very close intelligence cooperation between the U.S. and France, it would be understandable for many of those mourners to ask not just why, but how? Especially since, when it comes to spying—on the world, on Americans, on their own citizens—the French have always been très agressif.http://time.com/4114789/paris-attacks-intelligence/