I beg to differ. During the Cold War in the 1970’s the Soviets were reading all of our Naval messages thanks to the Walker Spy ring. They knew what we were doing, and yet they still lost the Cold War. The entire Government, Media, and Academia have been taken over by Liberal/Progressive/Communist “enemy within”. What Snowden has done is expose their framework for total control and tyranny to the American people and the world. Those of us who took an oath the the US Constitution now have the job of getting the Government, Media and Academia back to those founding principles.
Agree with you.
What has Snowden leaked that was not known already in intelligence circles and suspected by most informed people both here and in Europe (and assuredly in Russia and China). This stuff has been going on for years.
All he has done has brought the DOMESTIC spying without warrants on US citizens onto the radar screen of more of the average and low info voters. It’s a public relations issue more than a true intelligence breach.
He has publicized something that has already been talked about by others in the intelligence community (I think William Binney is a former NSA head that talked about this several years ago.)
Snowden has done a great service by getting these abuses out into the public consciousness.The fact that this increased level of awareness by the public came at a time when the current admin has shown their hand at being willing to unfairly target and harm their political enemies just shows what a great breach of trust we rightly should have in our government.
I see the almost unlimited hacking/surveillance/data storage abilities as the great Ring of Power of our age.
I side with Frodo and Gandalf - not with Boromir. Ultimate power (omniscience in the electronic data world) will corrupt absolutely, and so far it has performed horribly in protecting Americans from terrorist attacks.
Nicely stated. I think the difference between the Cold War and the situation today is the weakened state we find ourselves in against multiple enemies who are much more adept at the “soft touch” on developing our economic, political, and moral vulnerabilities. While I believe the Obama Administration is clearly headed towards the political socialist utopia and has made us incredibly vulnerable, there are also those enemies who wish to destroy us.
As for those of who took the oath and still seek to uphold it, you are dead on!