Edward Snowden Is No Hero - What, one wonders, did Snowden think the N.S.A. did? - By Jeffrey Toobin

[kpete]

JUNE 10, 2013
EDWARD SNOWDEN IS NO HERO
POSTED BY JEFFREY TOOBIN


Edward Snowden, a twenty-nine-year-old former C.I.A. employee and current government contractor, has leaked news of National Security Agency programs that collect vast amounts of information about the telephone calls made by millions of Americans, as well as e-mails and other files of foreign targets and their American connections. For this, some, including my colleague John Cassidy, are hailing him as a hero and a whistle-blower. He is neither. He is, rather, a grandiose narcissist who deserves to be in prison.

Snowden provided information to the Washington Post and the Guardian, which also posted a video interview with him. In it, he describes himself as appalled by the government he served:

The N.S.A. has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting. If I wanted to see your e-mails or your wife’s phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your e-mails, passwords, phone records, credit cards.

I don’t want to live in a society that does these sort of things… I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under.

What, one wonders, did Snowden think the N.S.A. did? Any marginally attentive citizen, much less N.S.A. employee or contractor, knows that the entire mission of the agency is to intercept electronic communications. Perhaps he thought that the N.S.A. operated only outside the United States; in that case, he hadn’t been paying very close attention. In any event, Snowden decided that he does not “want to live in a society” that intercepts private communications. His latter-day conversion is dubious.

And what of his decision to leak the documents? Doing so was, as he more or less acknowledges, a crime. Any government employee or contractor is warned repeatedly that the unauthorized disclosure of classified information is a crime. But Snowden, apparently, was answering to a higher calling. “When you see everything you realize that some of these things are abusive,” he said. “The awareness of wrongdoing builds up. There was not one morning when I woke up. It was a natural process.” These were legally authorized programs; in the case of Verizon Business’s phone records, Snowden certainly knew this, because he leaked the very court order that approved the continuation of the project. So he wasn’t blowing the whistle on anything illegal; he was exposing something that failed to meet his own standards of propriety. The question, of course, is whether the government can function when all of its employees (and contractors) can take it upon themselves to sabotage the programs they don’t like. That’s what Snowden has done.

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the rest:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/06/edward-snowden-nsa-leaker-is-no-hero.html

[ForgoTheConsequence]

1. he wasn’t blowing the whistle on anything illegal

That's up for debate.

[aquart]

2. It's the same rationale used to deny birth control and abortion, isn't it?

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

3. FOREIGN Inteligence vs domestic... Not that the "foreigners' r 2 keen on it n/t

[Gregorian]

4. It seems that people have forgotten that they are part of this country.

While everyone is looking at Congress, and the president, they don't seem to remember that they play a role in this democracy. If we played by the rules, I doubt we'd need any secrecy. Why all the secrecy? Could it be that we've been busy ripping the world off? And we just don't want to play fair. We're the biggest arms seller. That's a shitty occupation.

I'll take my chances. I'll live my life with freedom rather than safety. I'll wait until the bombs drop, like they did on Pearl Harbor. Then act. What we're doing now is insane. And I support anyone who can expose it.

[xiamiam]

7. YES

"what we're doing now is insane".. I so agree. I am so tired of this. We deserve better. We deserve to be better.. to stop this madness..weapons!..thats our number one industry ..wtf? It's unnecessary..we all know it..whether we admit it or not.

[ProSense]

5. It's the

manifestation of the "is it fascism," "FEMA camps," "gun culture," "police state" rhetoric that has become jumbled in the mind of some people. Everything has to be a vast government conspiracy that must be met with subtle implications that the American people must rise up. They secretly dream of revolution and overthrowing the government. Yeah, government overreach should be kept in check, but I think people got high on the level of outrage sparked by Bush's illegal actions that they somehow can't dial it back. Some of it is because there are those who want to taint the Obama Presidency by constantly likening it to the Bush administration. Finally, the anti-government assholes are feeding off the fear mongering.

"Most significant" leak in history, and likely one of the dumbest.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022987178

[rhett o rick]

6. At this point it doesnt matter who Snowden is. Not where he went to school, not

how tall he is, not if he speaks French. He exposed something significant. The government is big time pissed. We need to know what's going on and I am not settling for, "everything here is fine, keep moving". We know our government lies to us. They tell us it's for our own good and some here are ok with that. It appears that our government let me emphasis OUR GOVERNMENT is collecting massive amounts of data on citizens. The fact that Snowden is left handed doesnt change that one bit. The public needs to know what the safeguards are. With this amount of data the safeguards better be good. So far the safe guards are that some committee in Congress will keep an eye on the program. What the hell does that mean. I dont feel a bit good about that if Boner and his dipshits are involved. The other "safeguard" is the FISA judges. Like they will be looking out for our benefit.

To deride Snowden or Greenwald is a distraction at this point. We need our government, OUR GOVERNMENT to level with us.

[xiamiam]

8. we need to discuss the ways the constitution is being dismantled and that we are not happy about tha

everyone seems to be so cavalier about the document which protects us..but this is not their rules, this is our rules..and if those rights are constantly violated, then we've got a problem and it is our duty to stop it

[rhett o rick]

9. We are beyond help. How can we expect the majority of Americans to fight for their

Constitution when the so called centrists dont give a shit.

[xiamiam]

13. there are many people who care about this and who are taking steps to stop it

they might not be here on du..or at least not in bulk. That was a different time here. .. before Obama. Lots of Americans are disgusted and those who aren't, well, mostly those are the sheep who will be herded one way or the other BUT they are not the ones who will initiate or put in the work to effect the change we so desperately need. AT LEAST, we are going to have this debate. It's going to happen, I think, when Greenwald is forced to fight for his rights as a journalist. It is just beginning now. At least, this combined with the other assaults on the constitution are going to be addressed. They will have to be. This is one of the few things that has given me hope..at least now, everyone is going to be reminded of the violations and reminded that the duty is to uphold the constitution..not reinterpret it or manipulate it. We need to get back to the document and focus on staying within its framework. That's the legal way we have to stop this mess.

[rhett o rick]

15. Thanks for posting that. I do get discouraged but I wont give up.

The apologists here want to make this about Obama. It is much bigger than Obama. This is about our rights, our freedoms, and our liberties. Some where a line will be drawn.

[magellan]

11. Good post. I'd argue that the safeguards aren't and never can be

...what would be acceptable to most Americans 100% the time, regardless of which party is in power. (I mention this because a great many make the mistake of trusting their own party to handle everyone's private information & communications correctly.)

There was a mistake made in 2009 -- punching in one wrong number in a phone number -- that gave some analysts a massive amount of information about Americans not connected to terrorism. We only know this because it was reported. It's ludicrous to believe that a warrant stops that happening again, "unwittingly" or not. And if it's intentional, why would anyone report it?

We have thousands of private subcontractors involved in handling our emails and phone calls using their own analysts. We don't know who the hell they are. People are so worried about Snowden's bona fides; do they stop to consider they don't know what's hiding in the backgrounds of all the other analysts?

[marions ghost]

18. Good points

!

[marions ghost]

16. +++++

What are our safeguards?

Nobody knows.............................................

[UTUSN]

10. R#7 & K n/t

[reformist2]

12. The database itself - recorded phonecalls and e-mails - is unconstitutional.

[rhett o rick]

20. The compilation of massive data on Americans is unconstitutional. nm

[DevonRex]

21. Not according to the court that approved it. Sorry.

That's why the huge facility was built in Utah.

[reformist2]

22. That court is obviously corrupt. Sorry.

[DevonRex]

23. LOL.

[dflprincess]

14. And if he'd done this while Bush was president

DU would be setting up a defense fund for him.

[Harmony Blue]

17. A whistleblower

is someone that exposes something that is ethically or morally unacceptable. It doesn't have to be about exposing illegal activity....

[freshwest]

19. Reminds me of the bagger last year who thought his right to carry on a plane was being stifled...