Edward Snowden and the NSA

The Edward Snowden debacle for the Whitehouse actually began just before my summer travels but the data was really sketchy.  At the time, although I appreciate the public enlightenment, I believed that Snowden should have been charged with violating his security clearance.  My view on that has not changed and I am still greatful for the public enlightenment.

The current administration, however, has charged him with violating the 1917 espionage act.  While that is not out of line for an extreme case, this administration is one of the most arrogant and restrictive since, and possibly including, Nixon!  The only reason that the Snowden charges rise to espionage is because the administration, the Senate, and Congress are embarrassed.  Our Senators (for example Diane Feinstein) and our Congressmen (for example John Boehner) are also embarrassed because they actually approved the legislation authorizing the current over-reach by the NSA.


While the United States pursues espionage charges against Snowden, story after story has broken that shows the NSA has violated the law by targeting citizens that were not legitimate targets of surveillance.  The actual law approved by bipartisan legislation in Congress and the Senate, signed into law by George Bush, and executed (with great vigor) by President Obama's government, has secret courts not subject to FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests.  And, as if that were not sufficient reason for alarm, there are the facts that the NSA has repeatedly violated that portion of the law.

Here is the truth on this.  The United States is a sovereign nation and a superpower.  The intelligence community has an obligation to pursue actions wherever they can and wherever they go.  The only thing wrong is that when you do something illegal, you should be held accountable.  A bunch of lawyers in the Bush administration and Congress attempted to alter the law so that they could not be held accountable.  Perhaps their intent was not as brazen as the activities undertaken by the Obama administration but the result is just as bad.  Instead of a 3 branch of government check and balance system, we have FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) court that is not subject to public review.  This is as dangerous as the famed Star Chamber in Britain.  The only exception being that prosecutions are outside the realm of the FISA court activities.  While we might take solace in this, we also must keep in mind that the administration regularly determines the guilt or innocence of foreigners, and occasionally American Citizens, and condemns them to death via drone strike!

It is time to end the FISA court system and this joke of legalized spying.  Let the intelligence community do what it must knowing that they could become subject to US laws against spying and war crimes.  I trust the government that much.  I don't trust them to act well in my interests if they get a free pass on disclosures.