In a press conference while on his South African tour, Obama replied to a reporter's question, "No, I'm not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker." After the big media extravaganza naming Edward Snowden a traitor, foreign spy, whistleblower, patriot, and hero as well as an enigma, the president, who has remained relatively mum on the affair since the story broke on June 9, has now downgraded Snowden to a non-threat status to U.S. security. Yawn. You have to wonder why Obama acted so cavalierly yesterday when discussing the possibility of the "hacker" being extradited from Russia. There have been some useful conversations that have taken place between the United States government and the Russian government, and my continued expectation is that Russia or other countries that have talked about potentially providing Mr. Snowden asylum recognize that they are part of an international community and that they should be abiding by international law. Sounds like Snowden's...(Read Full Post)