Convicted U.S. spy Christopher Boyce: 'Snowden is doomed'

Editor's note: Convicted spy Christopher Boyce was jailed for 40 years for espionage after selling U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union. In 1985, his story was turned into a Hollywood film -- "The Falcon and the Snowman" - starring Sean Penn and Timothy Hutton. Released in 2003, Boyce is currently working on his memoirs "The Falcon and The Snowman: American Sons."

(CNN) -- Sitting alone in a hotel room, unable to contact friends or family or even walk the teeming streets of Hong Kong without looking over his shoulder, there can be few who can claim to know the fear and isolation that NSA leaker Edward Snowden is living through.

One man, however, is better qualified than most.

Former spy, fugitive and convicted traitor, Christopher Boyce sold U.S. secrets to the former Soviet Union and dodged U.S. authorities for almost two years until his arrest in 1977 at the age of just 22.
Young, idealistic and driven by a mixture of political conviction and outlaw excitement, Boyce eventually received a 40-year sentence for espionage. In 1980, he escaped from the Federal Penitentiary in Lompoc, California and, while on the run, carried out a string of bank robberies in Idaho and Washington State -- crimes for which he says he carries a greater weight of remorse than for those of espionage.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/14/world/asia/hong-kong-boyce-snowden/index.html