Snowden is one issue and NSA oversight is another.

[ProSense]

White House petition to pardon Snowden crosses threshold

By Jonathan Easley

A White House petition calling for the pardoning of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden has surpassed the 100,000 signatures it needs for an official response.

More than 111,000 people had signed the petition as of midday Monday. The petition requests “a full, free, and absolute pardon for any crimes he [Snowden] has committed or may have committed related to blowing the whistle on secret NSA surveillance programs,” and refers to him as a “national hero.”


A petition on the White House's “We the People” website needs 100,000 signatures in the first month of being posted to earn an official administration response.

A tense international manhunt is underway for Snowden, who revealed classified documents detailing the NSA’s surveillance of phone and internet traffic.

- more -

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/307361-white-house-petition-to-pardon-snowden-crosses-threshold

Julian Assange Won’t Say When Wikileaks Began Working With Ed Snowden
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023082812

The Morning Plum: Obama takes tentative step towards surveillance transparency

By Greg Sargent

Today President Obama will meet with the newly constituted Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board to take the first steps in the direction of having that “debate” over the proper balance between liberty and security that he says he wants, in the wake of revelations about NSA surveillance programs. It’s unclear how significant meeting with this board — which is designed to review terrorism programs to ensure attention to privacy concerns – will prove.

But buried in the White House guidance from a senior administration official about the event is a real piece of news: the White House has directed the Director of National Intelligence and the Justice Department to look at whether to declassify Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court opinions authorizing the NSA surveillance programs.

The senior official says that the DNI and DOJ have been directed “to review Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court opinions and filings relevant to the programs and to determine what additional information the Government can responsibly share about the sensitive and necessarily classified activities undertaken to keep the public safe.”

As you know, a coalition of conservative libertarians and civil liberties liberals in Congress are pushing for legislation that would compel the declassification of FISA court opinions, and is asking the Obama administration to declassify them himself. The idea is to make a debate about the legal rationale for these programs possible. So in one sense, the fact that the President has asked for an internal review designed to move things in this direction is a good development...“If the administration is considering releasing more information about the NSA’s surveillance activities, that’s a welcome development,” Jameel Jaffer, a leading attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, emails me. ”I’d note, though, that the administration said it would consider this possibility several years ago and nothing came of it. So while we appreciate the gesture towards transparency, we’ll wait to see what’s actually released.”

- more -

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/06/21/the-morning-plum-obama-takes-tentative-step-towards-surveillance-transparency/

Senators: End Secret Law
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022993363

These are two issues, and one doesn't make the other go away.

[sibelian]

1. YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!

:

etc

[Melinda]

2. The "newly constituted Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board" was est. in 2004

By Congress. In 2004.

[ProSense]

4. Here is more information

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3072024

Still, that doesn't negate the point that both Snowden and NSA oversight are going to be discussed.

[Melinda]

5. The author lost me with that bit tho. Be credible, I'll read. Not so much - cya.

And by that, I mean the author and his piece.

[liberal_at_heart]

3. you mean like the DOJ were directed to leave medical marijuana patitents obeying state law alone?

I don't trust the DOJ to do anything. They won't prosecute bankers, but they'll prosecute medical marijuana patients.

[msongs]

6. marijuana patients dont get jobs in the president's cabinet so they are fair game nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. The NSA is being "discussed" because of what Snowden revealed.

And, the government is trying to shut down the discussion by using the whistle blower as the issue.

[ProSense]

9. What Snowden did was steal information and then distorted it. n/t

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. Do you think the "discussion" of the NSA and it's snooping would be happening without Snowden?

[blkmusclmachine]

8. +1. "These are two issues, and one doesn't make the other go away."