You Can't Make This Stuff Up: Snowden and the NSA

Dear Mr. President,

You can’t make this stuff up. The pundits tell us that the leaker of the NSA’s surveillance program must be a high level intelligence official but it turns out to be Edward Snowden, a 29-year old computer security contractor for the NSA, an employee of Booz Allen, which markets itself as “the premier protector of America’s classified computer infrastructure.” Snowden, like Bradley Manning before him, was a young idealist with unlimited access to secret information who believed in the Constitution and the need for transparency in a democracy, the power elite’s worst nightmare. Snowden, early on, felt an obligation to help free people from oppression and in 2003 signed up for the Army Special Forces training so he could go to Iraq but quickly became disillusioned: “Most of the people training us seemed pumped up about killing Arabs, not helping anyone.” (Today’s NYT, p. A13) He broke his leg during a training accident, was discharged and went to work as a computer tech with access to first, the CIA’s secrets and then the NSA’s. He watched you advance policies he thought you would rein in and, like Manning, revealed information showing the abuses of government. Both Manning and Snowden are bright and articulate and the contrast to our sclerotic politicians could not be more striking. In today’s Times, McCain blathers about how the threat of terrorism is growing steadily and we need this surveillance. Excuse me, Senator, but this sounds like an admission that we lost the Global War on Terror. Then there’s Feinstein, whose descent into senility and doublethunk is frightening. She’d be willing to hold hearings on the importance of the surveillance program every month, she says, but the information is classified and can’t be made public. Then she gives examples of how the information was used to foil two plots—Mumbai and the NYC subway. As the Times points out, however, the Mumbai attack was not foiled: more than 160 people were killed and in a separate article, Rep. Mark Udall claims the NY subway plot was foiled not by the NSA, but by British police who tipped us off. Clapper, the guy who flat out lied to Sen. Wyden, said the leaks had caused “huge grave damage, Rep. Mike Rogers continued to deny the scale and scope of the surveillance and both he and Feinstein want Snowden prosecuted. You, on the other hand, project an image of restraint and welcome the debate. Ha! If you had a shred of decency, you’d give Mr. Snowden your Nobel Peace Prize.