September 21, 2013

Edward Snowden must not Disgrace Andrei Sakharov

By Michael Curtis
Edward Snowden, the former U.S. computer specialist who was employed by the CIA and as a contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA), and who leaked top secrets of U.S. and British surveillance programs, especially the PRISM monitoring program, and telephone metadata, remains today in temporary asylum at an unknown location in Russia. Snowden has been variously portrayed as a hero (particularly by Julian Assange, himself a self-proclaimed hero), a whistleblower (a person who exposes wrongdoing), a political dissident, a patriot, and a traitor. He prefers to style himself simply as an "American" who has informed the public "as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them." For some, Snowden did great damage to the U.S. when he committed the crime of divulging classified information. Others, like Jimmy Carter are more equivocal: in his words, Snowden violated the laws of America but "the invasion of human rights and privacy has gone too far."...(Read Full Article)