Posted by Tina
The Washington Post has reported that Edward Snowden stayed at the Russian Consulate in Hong Kong prior to leaking top secret documents through Wikileaks. The news came from a Russian news source and is causing speculation from bloggers on both the right and the left that rather than Snowden may have been seduced by the Russians or the hope that defection would bring rewards.
Stories about Syria have been leaking from the white house yesterday and today like a severely broken water pipe.
So, if Snowden is supposed to be a criminal, then what does that make the white house leakers?
Were it not for Snowden, we would have no idea about the extent of goofernment snooping and trampling on our rights. Thanks, Ed!
What is clear at this point is that Snowden has no real principles, or at least none he won’t willingly trade in for the promise of safety. Leaking the information was the right thing to do. But fleeing to Russia, a country that is currently engaging in serious repression and human rights abuses of its citizens, is hypocritical in the extreme. This story makes me hate pretty much everyone involved: Obama for his unprecedented war on whistleblowers, Snowden for his hypocrisy and cowardice, the Dems and Repubs who are acting like Snowden’s leak was worse than the government’s actions…
…Is this what being a libertarian feels like?
This is such a struggle for me. If it weren’t for Snowden, we wouldn’t even know half of what we know about the NSA since our worthless congress is willing to let them just show up and lie during testimony. And can Diane Feinstein be any more pathetic arguing to us that we need domestic spying? But my biggest gripe about this Snowden thing is that he wasn’t even a government employee, but working for a contractor who is collecting all of our data and letting a guy like this be in charge of it. Snowden wasn’t a hacker, he had access to ALL of the information. He was a system administrator and was able to get everything and just take it all out of there. That is some nice security there for billions of dollars in defense contract money while we tell our soldiers they can keep on fighting in Afghanistan.
I do not know a single person no matter what their politics who supports that NSA data collection center in Utah, but our politicians were happy to fund it.
My big gripe with Snowden is the way he did this. I don’t expect him to stay in the US, especially after Bradley Manning, but he could have actually gotten to a destination before the story ran. I find it really bizarre that the story was released while he was still seeking asylum. Obama has handled this whole Snowden thing with his typical brilliance, managing to screw it all up beyond belief and piss off many other countries along the way, dragging them into our battle. His defense of these NSA clowns makes us look even more stupid as a country.
Princess: “…my biggest gripe about this Snowden thing is that he wasn’t even a government employee, but working for a contractor who is collecting all of our data and letting a guy like this be in charge of it.”
I don’t know where the error happened. The government has a responsibility to investigate those given this kind of clearance. Did they bother?
When Americans were taught to be moral this wasn’t a problem. People with morals and a sense of loyalty to their country can be trusted with tasks that require them to see secret information. Usually those people are investigated prior to receiving clearance for such work and supervised as well. The buildings where they work are also secured and they leave and enter under scrutiny. Is this happening anymore?
Not only are our citizens less aware and concerned about the need for national security measures (as they were in WWII for instance) but it seems in modern times the investigators are not as concerned.
Does anyone else recall the security breachs, see also here, at the Los Alamos lab?
The NSA’s IS a necessary organ and its mission necessary. We have people living in this country that are plotting to hurt Americans as they did during the Boston Marathon. They don’t give a fig about our lives much less our privacy. That means surveillance will necessarily have to happen. It also means that Americans must be able to trust the people in charge of surveillance. I’m not sure that’s possible anymore.
J you ask a great question.
Leadership is important in these matters and our president has sadly placed the bar on the floor.
Chris I don’t think you have to be a libertarian to feel that level of…what? Disgust? Despair? Disappointment? Futility?
Obama has got to be the worst president ever for protecting America’s interests. He has prosecuted more people for espionage than all other presidents combined. He campaigned on protecting whistleblowers and has done nothing but attack them. Real spies have gotten less time in jail than Bradley Manning. Americans have a right to know what is being done in our name.
And could this administration have done a worse job with Syria? Why not just declare war on the planet and give all of our money to the military industrial complex?