My reading of TFA is that the CIA cannot continue to operate without real oversight. Snowden was a part of the intelligence apparatus, every interview I've seen with him has indicated that he still sees a need for it. However he also believes that the apparatus must be accountable to the legislature, and that in a functioning democracy, representatives of the intelligence apparatus should not be allowed to lie and conceal things from the representatives of the people.
If we elect representatives who run on a platform of assassinating 8-year old US Citizens, and overthrowing leaders of foreign democracies, then that's terrible, but it's far superior to a world in which a single person can unilaterally decide to do these things and then hide it from Congress.
That's my reading. All of the comments that do not address this specific point are missing it.
Is Snowden now a Russian asset? Maybe. Doesn't matter. Why doesn't Congress have true oversight of the CIA?
It's necessary to "break a few eggs to make an omelet" and that's how "the sausage is made"? Ok, but why doesn't Congress have true oversight of the CIA?
Snowden writes too flowery? Sure, but why doesn't Congress have true oversight of the CIA?
90% of the freakouts over each President each term is because the Office of the Presidency has so much power ceded by Congress over the decades. No one would have been so deeply freaked out by Trump if the President did not have the power to wage war, to assassinate US citizens, for secret trials, to spy domestically, to put people on no-fly lists, order nuclear strikes and so on.
If we elect representatives who run on a platform of assassinating 8-year old US Citizens, and overthrowing leaders of foreign democracies, then that's terrible, but it's far superior to a world in which a single person can unilaterally decide to do these things and then hide it from Congress.