The Central Intelligence Agency is so leaky with secrets these days CIA Director Mike Pompeo has remarked on the mission-undercutting phenomenon and the new face of treason:

Snowden Worship.

"In some ways, I do think it's accelerated," Pompeo told MSNBC in an interview that aired Saturday. "I think there is a phenomenon, the worship of Edward Snowden, and those who steal American secrets for the purpose of self-aggrandizement or money or for whatever their motivation may be, does seem to be on the increase."

It's a creepy situation since so many of those young and hip and with-it-with-technology young people, the very ones CIA has got to hire, are the most likely to fall for this, with only leftwing professors to teach them and no memory of the Berlin Wall. Snowden is hip because he is a whistleblower, a social justice warrior, a privacy advocate, a freedom fighter. What he wasn't was a good employee or a guy who kept his word. And more to the point, he was a traitor who aided America's enemies and then fled to one of them, Russia, to avoid any responsibility - and don't think he's not helping them out now in exchange for their hospitality. Yet he appeals to both the libertarian right and the run-of-the-mill left as their Pajama Boy. They want to be like him.

And why not. Instead of being slammed away for life as all traitors deserve, he's out there, well rewarded for his treason,  He's gotten fame, a soapbox, money and tons of twitter followers. In the case of his coeval, one Bradley-to-Chelsea Manning, he's even gotten sex change surgery as a special privilege.

Now, followin in their footsteps is Reality Winner, who  actually got her hands on the intelligence secrets held by the CIA - and instead of treating them with the respect they deserve, decided that these secrets were "her" secrets, just as Snowden did - to use for whatever cause she wished.

It makes sense.

It goes to show that the country has changed since the Obama era, and not in a good way. Openly disdainful of patriotism, always quick on the draw to apologize to the world for the existence of America, always willing to fork over the goodies of America to illegals and prioritize their needs before of those of ordinary American citizens, and unwilling to produce anything along the lines of victory in battle, the damage is done and the stage is set for more.

Combine this Obama leadership legacy with Silicon Valley tech advances that rival those of the intelligence agencies, with their implicit undermining of any top-down organizational structure, as well the growing contractor culture in government - which requires neither patriotism nor commitment, and the result is the toxic brew of conditions that open the door for traitors.

So long as treason is rewarded instead of punished, we will get more of it. Let's hope Pompeo can do something to change this culture.