[TheRealThing]

If you compare the total compensation package that federal employees get compared to contractors, including the generous retirement and medical benefits, it is cheaper to use contractors in many cases. There is no cost when a project is completed to simply fire contractors. It amazes me how much time and money the military spends on out processing and in processing people when they switch locations or retire. I work across the hall from a LT General who is in the process of retiring and he will be there for months as he takes his accumulated leave and prepares to reenter the civilian world. For contractors, the process takes less than a day and there are no ongoing costs to the government following retirement or termination.

I used to believe as you do, that using contract labor is always more expensive than hiring employees - both in the private and in the public sector. However, my experience as a contractor and observing the hidden costs of federal employees, prompted me to change my opinion. I am sure that there are situations where employing contractors over long periods of time costs the federal government more than using its own employees, but that is not true in most cases.

That being the case. How badly could American national security be compromised by contractors with sensitive info? Did Snowden merely suspect the depth of the NSA's invasive capabilities into everyman's life, or did he really work with this kind of thing first hand?