Edward Snowden's Sad and Lonely Future

Edward Snowden, the man behind the disclosure of secret documents on U.S. surveillance activities, faces a sad and lonely future. Germany's asylum denial and the White House's rejection of clemency for the former National Security Agency-contractor-turned-whistle-blower, foreshadows a life on the run. His mediocre career and one-page "manifesto," suggest limited prospects as a turncoat spook or as a critic of U.S. spy agencies. More important, history shows life isn't kind to U.S. intelligence insiders gone rogue.

The story of Central Intelligence Agency operative Philip Agee sheds light on what kind of future Snowden can expect. Agee was the Edward Snowden of the pre-Internet generation. He gained attention for writing "Inside the Company: CIA Diary," an account of his days as a spy (mostly in Latin America) and the first of five books in an anti-CIA campaign in the 1970s and 1980s during which he outed a world-wide network of more than 4,000 covert operatives.