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It's also quite telling that neither Manning nor Snowden have a young family to take care of - no wife or kids.

It is easier (although still monumentally difficult, of course) to take a stand when you are not taking down an innocent wife and children with you, who you might never see again.

Having the clearance does not mean you have access to everything at that clearance level, just that you can be given access should you need it.

In other words, the number of people who have access to material showing wrongdoing of any sort is likely a tiny fraction of those 1.4 million.

Having some kind of clearance also means: power over other people.

Having power over other people can corrupt any human being and s/he may start to actually like it.