Reuters reports: Revelations by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden changed lives in the cyber community, from slowdowns in obtaining high-level security clearances to providing material for a “really good comedy routine.”

Experts at the Reuters Cybersecurity Summit this week were asked how Snowden, now living under asylum in Russia after exposing the National Security Agency’s phone and Internet spying programs in 2013, altered their worlds.

The creation of a mini “Snowden industry” is one on them.

“I give a lot more speeches,” said Michael Hayden, the former NSA and CIA director. “It has allowed someone of my background to comment on issues of national importance.”

The website of Leading Authorities, the speakers’ bureau that represents Hayden, shows the retired four-star general can command $20,000 to as much as $75,000 for a speech.

“It’s made my life busier,” deadpanned Robert Anderson, who steered the Snowden investigation as the FBI’s assistant director of counterintelligence. “What it has done for me is to very much broaden the way I look at an issue.”

Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist with the American Civil Liberties Union, lauded the spotlight that Snowden’s disclosures shone. [Continue reading…]