Snowden's wikipedia bio claims he enlisted in the Army Reserves as a Special Forces recruit but was discharged after only four months due to breaking both legs. Special Forces do dirty black ops for the CIA. This guy didn't go very far in the SOF training pipeline so had no contact with them.
The issue is Snowden allegedly had no college degree, professional credentials, or work experience in IT at the time yet was hired by the CIA to do computer networking. Why? This is not a normal practice for these agencies. A gov contractor typically doesn't hire a GED holder with little work experience because the gov won't reimburse them very much for this particular person.
Perhaps Snowden is a NOC – an agent under non-official cover. Again, why hire a kid who didn't earn even an AA? The country is swarming with talented college graduates, military, and veterans. The only thing I can think of is his wikipedia bio is BS or his FBI-connected grandfather pulled strings. What else could it be?
AFAIK JA doesn't work for the CIA or a fed gov contractor. This guy was a famous hacker back in the 1980s whose group broke into various fed gov, university, and company computer systems. There used to be a time when demonstrated competence in a particular area trumped a college degree. That went out the window over a decade ago. Would love to see this return.