Source of NSA Surveillance Leaks Reveals Himself

Citing reasons akin to those that Bradley Manning has said motivated his leaking of information on U.S. military atrocities and other wrongdoings, the source of the leaks revealing the extent of domestic spying against American citizens has said that he was motivated by "the systematic surveillance of innocent citizens."  Personally, I find the level of spying on innocent Americans frightening and reminiscent of what one would expect under Nazi Germany, the former Soviet Union or today's Chinese regime.  There seem to be few if any restraints on the government's spying and the question becomes that of who decides what's enough to trigger having one swept up into the system as a "treat" merely because of one's views?   Here are excerpts from the Washington Post story:

A 29-year-old man who says he is a former undercover CIA employee said Sunday that he was the principal source of recent disclosures about ­top-secret National Security Agency programs, exposing himself to possible prosecution in an acknowledgment that had little if any precedent in the long history of U.S. intelligence leaks.

Edward Snowden, a tech specialist who has contracted for the NSA and works for the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, unmasked himself as a source after a string of stories in The Washington Post and the Guardian that detailed previously unknown U.S. surveillance programs. He said he disclosed secret documents in response to what he described as the systematic surveillance of innocent citizens.

“I’m not going to hide,” Snowden told The Post from Hong Kong, where he has been staying. “Allowing the U.S. government to intimidate its people with threats of retaliation for revealing wrongdoing is contrary to the public interest.”

Asked whether he believes that his disclosures will change anything, he said: “I think they already have. Everyone everywhere now understands how bad things have gotten — and they’re talking about it. They have the power to decide for themselves whether they are willing to sacrifice their privacy to the surveillance state.”

Snowden said nobody had been aware of his actions, including those closest to him. He said there was no single event that spurred his decision to leak the information, but he said President Obama has failed to live up to his pledges of transparency.

“My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them,” he said in a note that accompanied the first document he leaked to The Post.

In a brief statement, a spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said the intelligence community is “reviewing the damage” the leaks have done.

 

Snowden said he is seeking “asylum from any countries that believe in free speech and oppose the victimization of global privacy,” but the law appears to provide for his extradition from Hong Kong, a semiautonomous territory of China, to the United States.  Although any extradition proceeding could take months or even years, experts said Snowden has not put himself in a favorable position.

The debate and turmoil will continue to rage but the question remains how much freedom and privacy are Americans willing to surrender so that government bureaucrats can decide what keeps us "safe."