Although several members of Congress have blasted whistle-blower/leaker Edward Snowden, few have straight out called him a traitor.
Bill Nelson is one of them.
Now, the Florida Democrat said there could be another Booz Allen Hamilton employee with a top-secret clearance who illegally revealed classified information, and he worked at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa when he did it.
Nelson made that revelation in a letter he sent to Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Diane Feinstein, alluding to an article written by the Tampa Tribune's Howard Altman back in 2011.
Here's an excerpt from Nelson's missive to Feinstein:
In 2008, Scott Allan Bennett was hired to work as a counter-threat finance analyst at MacDill. As a Booz Allen Hamilton employee, Bennett had one of the highest level of security clearances available — Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmentalized Information, also known as TS/SCI Clearance.
Yet just months prior to his being hired, Bennett was convicted of lying to government officials and sentenced to three years of probation. I am enclosing a 2011 Tampa Tribune article that raised questions about how a Booz Allen Hamilton employee with such a conviction received a security clearance.
Serious quality control questions have been raised here. These men and women have access to some of our most sensitive national security information. I agree with you that we may need legislation to limit or prevent certain contractors from handling highly classified and technical data.
Nelson is also calling for a Senate committee investigation to determine how private contractors — like Booz Allen Hamilton — screen, hire and monitor employees who need top secret clearance from the government to handle highly-classified information.
Nelson's letter comes a day before a coalition of progressive groups intends to protest in front of his Tampa District office on North Florida Avenue because of the senator's comment that Snowden is a traitor, as well as to show their anger about the extent of surveillance on Americans undertaken by the National Security Agency.