Former CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden is making waves today for an off-color joke he recently told.

The retired spymaster was speaking at a Washington Post forum on cyber security recently when he acknowledged that NSA leaker Edward Snowden has been nominated for a human rights award. Hayden quipped, “I must admit in my darker moments over the past several months, I’d also thought of nominating Mr. Snowden but it was for a different list.”

The Obama administration, which unsuccessfully sought to get Snowden returned from Russia where he has been granted asylum, is known to maintain a list of terrorists for killing via drone strike. U.S. citizens have not only found their way onto that list, some have been killed. Islamist hate preacher Anwar al-Awlaki and his 16-year-old son were both killed in separate drone strikes in Yemen. They were U.S. citizens. Awlaki had exorted Muslims including Nidal Hasan to kill Americans. Hasan carried out a massacre at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009 while he shouted “Allahu Akbar!” He sits on death row, while the Obama administration characterizes his terrorist attack as “workplace violence.”

The report on Hayden’s remarks, below, comes from Russia Today. That channel is funded by the Russian government, which itself has been known to kill journalists and others who get on President Vladimir Putin’s bad side.

Also read: Best Response to a Campus Mini Skirt Ban EVER