Author Topic: NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I do not expect to see home again'  (Read 2981 times)

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Offline DCPatriot

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NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I do not expect to see home again'

Source for the Guardian's NSA files on why he carried out the biggest intelligence leak in a generation – and what comes next

Ewen MacAskill


Edward Snowden was interviewed over several days in Hong Kong by Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill.



Q: Why did you decide to become a whistleblower?

A: "The NSA 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 emails or your wife's phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your emails, 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."

Q: But isn't there a need for surveillance to try to reduce the chances of terrorist attacks such as Boston?

A: "We have to decide why terrorism is a new threat. There has always been terrorism. Boston was a criminal act. It was not about surveillance but good, old-fashioned police work. The police are very good at what they do."

Q: Do you see yourself as another Bradley Manning?

A: "Manning was a classic whistleblower. He was inspired by the public good."

Q: Do you think what you have done is a crime?

A: "We have seen enough criminality on the part of government. It is hypocritical to make this allegation against me. They have narrowed the public sphere of influence."

Q: What do you think is going to happen to you?

A: "Nothing good."

Q: Why Hong Kong?

A: "I think it is really tragic that an American has to move to a place that has a reputation for less freedom. Still, Hong Kong has a reputation for freedom in spite of the People's Republic of China. It has a strong tradition of free speech."

Q: What do the leaked documents reveal?

A: "That the NSA routinely lies in response to congressional inquiries about the scope of surveillance in America. I believe that when [senator Ron] Wyden and [senator Mark] Udall asked about the scale of this, they [the NSA] said it did not have the tools to provide an answer. We do have the tools and I have maps showing where people have been scrutinised most. We collect more digital communications from America than we do from the Russians."



more at:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/nsa-whistleblower-edward-snowden-why


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« Last Edit: June 09, 2013, 08:33:30 pm by DCPatriot »
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Offline DCPatriot

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"It aint what you don't know that kills you.  It's what you know that aint so!" ...Theodore Sturgeon

"Journalism is about covering the news.  With a pillow.  Until it stops moving."    - David Burge (Iowahawk)

"It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living" F. Scott Fitzgerald

Offline sinkspur

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Edward Snowden is a traitor, just like Bradley Manning.  These little cretins don't get to decide what's classified and what's not.  He will rot in a prison right alongside Daniel Pollard.
Roy Moore's "spiritual warfare" is driving past a junior high without stopping.

Offline DCPatriot

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Edward Snowden is a traitor, just like Bradley Manning.  These little cretins don't get to decide what's classified and what's not.  He will rot in a prison right alongside Daniel Pollard.

You obviously did not view the video interview.     :chairbang:
"It aint what you don't know that kills you.  It's what you know that aint so!" ...Theodore Sturgeon

"Journalism is about covering the news.  With a pillow.  Until it stops moving."    - David Burge (Iowahawk)

"It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living" F. Scott Fitzgerald

famousdayandyear

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Can anyone make out the sticker on Snowden's laptop?  Looks like "I support [something] rights".
Hope he's not one of the treehugging evangelists.

Offline happyg

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Can anyone make out the sticker on Snowden's laptop?  Looks like "I support [something] rights".
Hope he's not one of the treehugging evangelists.

I think it says "Support Online Rights" from the Electronic Frontier Foundation that defends bloogers rights, etc.


famousdayandyear

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I think it says "Support Online Rights" from the Electronic Frontier Foundation that defends bloogers rights, etc.



Thanks happy

Offline jmyrlefuller

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Edward Snowden is a traitor, just like Bradley Manning.  These little cretins don't get to decide what's classified and what's not.  He will rot in a prison right alongside Daniel Pollard.
That might explain why he is in exile right now... in Hong Kong, which since 1997 has been a part of Red China.

But I wouldn't say just like Manning. Manning was working for the homosexual agenda. Snowden's motives were driven by something else.
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Offline sinkspur

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You obviously did not view the video interview.     :chairbang:

On the contrary, it just confirmed my initial assessment.  He took an oath, and obviously oaths don't mean anything to him. 
Roy Moore's "spiritual warfare" is driving past a junior high without stopping.

Offline ABX

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 :silly:
Edward Snowden is a traitor, just like Bradley Manning.  These little cretins don't get to decide what's classified and what's not.  He will rot in a prison right alongside Daniel Pollard.

The difference is Manning knowingly leaked info that was actionable in outing US assets and quite possibly resulted in deaths of our troops. Technically what Snowden did was illegal but was it right? Remember everything the Nazis did was lawful by their own laws.

Oceander

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Re: NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I do not expect to see home again'
« Reply #10 on: June 10, 2013, 12:39:40 am »
Edward Snowden is a traitor, just like Bradley Manning.  These little cretins don't get to decide what's classified and what's not.  He will rot in a prison right alongside Daniel Pollard.

Au contraire.  History will paint a much more positive image of his role.  The people who kept the secret of Anne Frank's existence from the Nazis are considered heroes now; in Nazi Germany they were traitors who under duly enacted German law of the time would have been duly shot, or hung, for their crimes.

Offline mountaineer

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Re: NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I do not expect to see home again'
« Reply #11 on: June 10, 2013, 12:40:27 am »
The Dutch people who hid Jews in their attics told the Gestapo no one was up there. Should they be criticized as liars?
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Oceander

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Re: NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I do not expect to see home again'
« Reply #12 on: June 10, 2013, 12:51:47 am »
The Dutch people who hid Jews in their attics told the Gestapo no one was up there. Should they be criticized as liars?

They should be criticized as traitors, according to some.

Offline sinkspur

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Re: NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I do not expect to see home again'
« Reply #13 on: June 10, 2013, 01:18:02 am »
Au contraire.  History will paint a much more positive image of his role.  The people who kept the secret of Anne Frank's existence from the Nazis are considered heroes now; in Nazi Germany they were traitors who under duly enacted German law of the time would have been duly shot, or hung, for their crimes.

Yes.  Of course.  Anyone who keeps a state secret is now a Nazi, according to some on this forum.

Let's just open the files and pour out all our sources and methods to anybody who wants to see them.

What the hell has gotten into you people?  You despise Obama so much that anything--ANYTHING--that could bring him down is perfectly legitimate.  Especially if state secrets are compromised.
Roy Moore's "spiritual warfare" is driving past a junior high without stopping.

Offline Cincinnatus

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Re: NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I do not expect to see home again'
« Reply #14 on: June 10, 2013, 01:20:52 am »
These stories, which could include those who operated the Underground Railroad, illustrate why there has to be objective standards of what is right and true. Human law is not adequate to the task since it is mutable and transitory.

From whence you derive the objective standard then becomes the issue. This country once found it revealed in the "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" but no longer, and everyone does as each individual sees fit.

With philosophical unity gone, disorder prevails and grows.
We shall never be abandoned by Heaven while we act worthy of its aid ~~ Samuel Adams

Offline sinkspur

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Re: NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I do not expect to see home again'
« Reply #15 on: June 10, 2013, 01:32:05 am »
These stories, which could include those who operated the Underground Railroad, illustrate why there has to be objective standards of what is right and true. Human law is not adequate to the task since it is mutable and transitory.

From whence you derive the objective standard then becomes the issue. This country once found it revealed in the "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" but no longer, and everyone does as each individual sees fit.

With philosophical unity gone, disorder prevails and grows.

Get real.  The Intelligence Committees of Congress are informed of these decisions; they have to be reauthorized every 90 days by the FISA courts. 

George W. Bush SECRETLY authorized the warrantless WIRETAPPING of communications involving American citizens and foreign sources.  The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Rogers, attested that what is now occurring is legal and sanctioned by Congress.  Yes, let's have more transparency.  But to carry this out five decimal places and decide we are now in Nazi Germany is just idiotic.
Roy Moore's "spiritual warfare" is driving past a junior high without stopping.

Offline 240B

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Re: NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I do not expect to see home again'
« Reply #16 on: June 10, 2013, 02:45:19 am »
This administration has redefined and has called into question the definition of 'what is legal'. Is it 'legal', for example, for Eric Holder to say openly that he will not enforce immigration law under any circumstances? Sebelius obviously broke the 'law' with fund raising and yet nothing will ever come of it. We know the IRS broke the 'law' with it's behavior toward people it considered to be not in support of Obama.
 
To the point, this administration has fostered a culture of picking and choosing what it considers to be 'law' and 'legal or illegal' regardless of what the books say.
 
Now, we are hearing that Snowden 'broke the law', however, as sure as I sit here now, had he leaked something favorable to this administration or to Obama, there would be no outrage or calls for 'justice' and he would be a hero to the Left and MSM. No one would be worried about 'the law'. His only 'crime' was that he did something the Leftist administration did not benefit from or want him to do.
 
Outrage and calls for justice are always very selective and subjective in America in general concerning many various issues.
 
He saw and participated in programs which he considered to be fundamental crimes against the American people. It is notable that he outed programs designed to surveille American citizens and did not out operations against foreign military targets.
 
American soldiers are trained to obey all 'legal' orders and only legal orders.  Snowden considered these programs to be against his conscience and against the conscience of America and the American people and did what he felt he had to do. Right or wrong, it is done.
 
I do not think everyone keeping a secret is a Nazi, but saying "I was just following orders." doesn't work either. When the government itself is breaking the law, and they create a law saying that talking about them breaking the law is illegal, then we wind up in a logical circle.
 
All revolutionaries all throughout all of history always began as 'illegal' until they gain power and make themselves 'legal'.
 
What is illegal? Honestly, after all I have seen over the past few years, I am no longer sure.
You cannot "COEXIST" with people who want to kill you.
If they kill their own with no conscience, there is nothing to stop them from killing you.
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Offline happyg

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Re: NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I do not expect to see home again'
« Reply #17 on: June 10, 2013, 02:57:00 am »
Excellent post, as usual 240. We know what is legal. So does this administration, but they put themselves above the law. What they were doing was and is unconstitutional, and all that was done was revealing illegal activity against the American people by the government. Manning was seeking revenge, and did commit espionage. As bad as all the revelations are, the leakers just might have saved America.

Offline Cincinnatus

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Re: NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I do not expect to see home again'
« Reply #18 on: June 10, 2013, 03:34:19 am »
Get real.  The Intelligence Committees of Congress are informed of these decisions; they have to be reauthorized every 90 days by the FISA courts. 

Forgive my asking but what has that got to do with what I posted?
We shall never be abandoned by Heaven while we act worthy of its aid ~~ Samuel Adams

Offline Cincinnatus

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Re: NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I do not expect to see home again'
« Reply #19 on: June 10, 2013, 03:53:10 am »
Here's an interesting addition to this discussion.

The Resume of NSA Leaker Edward Snowden: Stunning

I'd hate to be in the Public Relations department at government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton this weekend. It's not just the fact that Snowden is/was a Booz employee.

Booz Allen Hamilton, Edward Snowden's employer, is one of America's biggest security contractors and a significant part of the constantly revolving door between the US intelligence establishment and the private sector.

 The current of director [sic] of national intelligence (DNI), James Clapper, who issued a stinging attack on the intelligence leaks this weekend, is a former Booz Allen executive.

 And it's not just that DNI Clapper is an ex-BAH exec and his statement is just a tad embarrassing.

No, let's examine the reported resume of Snowden (dates are estimated):

• Raised in Elizabeth City, North Carolina and later moved to Maryland.

• Attended a community college, but never completed his coursework and never graduated from high school.

• 2003-2004: U.S. Army, discharged after training accident

• 2005: NSA, Security Guard, University of Maryland.

• 2006: CIA, IT security.

• 2007-2009: CIA, diplomatic cover, Switzerland.

• 2009-2013: NSA Contractor, Dell and later Booz Allen Hamilton.

• Salary: around $200,000.

 What? Seriously? So a guy who never even graduated from high school (he later reportedly earned a G.E.D.) and started his professional career as a security guard, got hired by a couple of defense contractors and -- at age 29 -- was making $200K a year?

 If this story is true, I don't know what's more bizarre: the leak itself or the sheer profligacy of the federal spending machine.


http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-resume-of-nsa-whistleblower-edward.html

The nature of this information is prompting some to question Snowden's bona fides.
We shall never be abandoned by Heaven while we act worthy of its aid ~~ Samuel Adams

Offline ABX

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Re: NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I do not expect to see home again'
« Reply #20 on: June 10, 2013, 03:03:37 pm »
With that resume he is either a genius who someone recognized and pulled him from his mundane job or he is simply a go-between to be a face of the document release (ie, higher powers in the NSA leaked the docs and used him as a front so they wouldn't be exposed.)

He could also be a BS artist who contacted the media but never did anything.

Offline Right_in_Virginia

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Re: NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I do not expect to see home again'
« Reply #21 on: June 10, 2013, 04:22:56 pm »
Yes.  Of course.  Anyone who keeps a state secret is now a Nazi, according to some on this forum.

Let's just open the files and pour out all our sources and methods to anybody who wants to see them.

What the hell has gotten into you people?  You despise Obama so much that anything--ANYTHING--that could bring him down is perfectly legitimate.  Especially if state secrets are compromised.

Calm down ... and come in off the ledge.

We're here for you.   
« Last Edit: June 10, 2013, 04:31:38 pm by Right_in_Virginia »

Oceander

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Re: NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I do not expect to see home again'
« Reply #22 on: June 10, 2013, 05:18:50 pm »
Yes.  Of course.  Anyone who keeps a state secret is now a Nazi, according to some on this forum.

Let's just open the files and pour out all our sources and methods to anybody who wants to see them.

What the hell has gotten into you people?  You despise Obama so much that anything--ANYTHING--that could bring him down is perfectly legitimate.  Especially if state secrets are compromised.

If you don't like that analogy, then how's about the Founders?  That's right, George Washington was a traitor under British law - and even worse, a traitor who had sworn an oath of fealty to the British Crown - so, does that make the Founders as dastardly and as deserving of punishment as you would have Mr. Snowden?