Dick Cheney expresses support for NSA surveillance program

Former US Vice President Dick Cheney expressed his whole-hearted support for the controversial NSA surveillance program in a Fox News Sunday interview, while maintaining that Obama is lacking credibility over the Syria issue. 

 Cheney deflected interviewer Chris Wallace's question about the neccesity of secrecy for the NSA program, claiming: "Well, I understand people’s concern about it, but an intelligence program that does reveal sources and methods, which in fact is what you're talking about, is significantly less effective because you’re not just revealing it to the American people, you’re revealing it to your targets, to your adversaries, to the enemy."

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The former vice president also noted his disdain for leaker Edward Snowden in the interview, the former NSA employee who leaked the information about the surveillance program to the media. 

“I think it’s one of the worst occasions in my memory of somebody with access to classified information doing enormous damage to the national security interests of the United States,” said Cheney, according to the New York Times — further insinuating that Snowden might be a spy for China due to his flight to Hong Kong. 

“I’m suspicious because he went to China,” said Cheney to the Times. “That’s not a place where you would ordinarily want to go if you are interested in freedom, liberty and so forth. It raises questions whether or not he had that kind of connection before he did this.”

Cheney noted that the Patriot Act was drafted "in his office" on Capitol Hill with the assistance of top lawmakers, and claimed that the 9/11 attacks might have been avoidable if the surveillance plan he helped create had been in place at the time, according to Fox News. 

“I’m obviously not a fan,” said Cheney of President Obama, according to USA Today,  noting that he feels the incumbent has "no credibility" after the 2012 Benghazi attack.