Posted on 12/16/2020 4:43:58 AM PST by Kaslin
President Donald Trump should pardon Edward Snowden.
Who?
I know, it's embarrassing -- Assange, Manning, Snowden... Who did what?
I got them confused before I researched this topic. National security isn't my beat. I finally educated myself this month because I got a chance to interview Snowden, the CIA/NSA employee who told the world that our government spied on us but lied to Congress about it.
Now Snowden hides from American authorities.
We talked via Zoom.
Fourteen years ago, when Snowden worked for the CIA, and then the NSA, he signed agreements saying he would not talk about what he did. I confronted him about breaking his promise.
"What changed me," he answers, "was the realization that what our government actually does was very different than the public representation of it."
The NSA's mass surveillance program was meant to find foreign terrorists. When congressmen asked NSA officials if, without warrants, they collected data on Americans, they lied and said, "No."
"There was a breathtaking sweep of intentional knowing public deception," says Snowden. "We're capturing everything that your family is doing online."
I asked Snowden if his co-workers had qualms.
"In private, some said, 'This is crazy. I'm not sure this is legal, but you know what happens to people who talk about this.'"
What does happen?
Nothing terrible, said President Barack Obama, who claimed Snowden could have revealed the government's lawbreaking legally. "There were other avenues available," he told reporters.
"What he said was incorrect," Snowden tells me.
Government officials protect themselves by discrediting those who reveal inconvenient truths. Previous whistleblowers lost their jobs. Some were shocked to be subjects of dawn raids by federal police with guns drawn.
I understand why Snowden feared "proper" channels.
Instead, he took documents to journalists. The world learned the truth.
American officials said Snowden's leaks put lives at risk. But in the eight years since then, they've never given any clear examples.
"They constantly tell us, 'This is for your safety (and) to investigate terrorists,'" says Snowden. "Barack Obama's own investigations found that it didn't stop a single terrorist attack."
At the time, the NSA did claim that mass surveillance stopped terrorism.
Richard Ledgett, former deputy director of the NSA, said NSA programs contributed to stopping 54 terrorist attacks.
"That makes me feel safer when I hear that," I say to Snowden.
"We want to believe it's true," Snowden responds, "but it's not. The government itself no longer makes these claims that it stopped 54 plots."
In fact, the government no longer claims it stopped any attacks.
All of this made me realize -- Snowden got screwed.
"Aren't you pissed off?" I ask. "(Former Director of National Intelligence) James Clapper lied to Congress and he wasn't fired! Now he works for CNN. (Former NSA director) Keith Alexander wasn't fired. Now he's on Amazon's board! They made out; you're in exile."
"If you're one of these 'made men,'" answers Snowden, "You face a very different flavor of justice."
Snowden went to Hong Kong to give reporters the data that showed the NSA had lied. He asked 27 countries to grant him asylum, without success. He tried to fly to Ecuador. When his plane stopped for a layover in Moscow, U.S. officials revoked his passport. He's been stuck in Moscow for seven years now.
If he returns to America, then Snowden will almost certainly be jailed.
"I can be very much at peace with the choices that I've made," he says. It was the right thing to do, and it has made things better. Some of these programs have been halted."
In 2013, Donald Trump was asked about Snowden. He said, "This guy is a bad guy and there is still a thing called execution!" But this year, President Trump said he'd "look at" giving Snowden a pardon.
"I think it's clearer and clearer that what I did was the right thing to do," Snowden tells me. "History has a way of exonerating the truth."
Sometimes, anyway.
Snowden did a good thing. He deserves a pardon.
Julian Assange deserves one, too.
Snowden’s crime is crossing his betters.
Clinton free.
Brennan free.
Clapper free.
Mueller free.
Comey free.
I agree. I’m all for a pardon.
NSA “has everything”. But they never seem to do anything with it. All through the Russia collusion hoax, the stolen election, these very real threats to the republic, NSA has not stepped up and said “Here are Hillary’s emails” or “Biden made a deal with Xi” or anything like that.
The Ratcliffe report is expected by Dec 18. It ought to have some real meat. If it’s just a piece of paper indicating that some people are a little suspicious about some stuff which may have happened, and maybe a special prosecutor should be named so that maybe 3 years from now we can say that nothing happened … that will be insufficient.
Lets put the cards on the table. Lets find out what NSA knows. If NSA doesn’t want to ever say anything, then I think Snowden was absolutely right in doing what he did.
Yes!
Definitely not a hero. Hero’s don’t flee to the Soviet Union and allow them to debrief you.
“The Ratcliffe report is expected by Dec 18. It ought to have some real meat.”
It will be a non definitive, gray morass of BS.
He didn’t flee to Russia. He was on a flight to Ecuador when we canceled his passport forcing him to stay in Russia.
HUGE: Veritas To Release Audio Recordings Between The State Department & Julian Assange 12/16/2020
In an extraordinary twist of fate, Project Veritas has just obtained never-before-heard audio recordings between Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s State Department.
Taylor Hudak
@_taylorhudak
·
13h
NEW: Journalist
@CassandraRules
says to
@AdamCrigler
during a livestream that her White House sources have said that Barr was “for sure” the biggest obstacle to getting a pardon (for Assange). Barr is gone now.
It was a stop on way to Ecuador. USA revoked his passport mid-flight
I think all these guys were heroes....I have absolutely no faith in this sorry ass government....liars all!!!
AS others have noted on this thread, he did not “flee” to Russia, he was stuck there. But, who is a greater threat to you and me—Russia or the Amerikan Deep State thugs? Combined with the recent news that the ChiComs own a vast swath of American influencers, I have my doubts.
NSA is the largest employer in Maryland. In 2020 it supposedly has a 62.7 billion dollar budget they deign to tell us about. The number of employees are classified, but it is estimated to be 30,000-40,000.
In 2017 Homeland security estimated a border wall would cost 21 billion dollars to build.
FReegards
Snowden is hero. My F-I-L, a Deep State intel bureaucrat, would turn into a rabid monster at the mere mentioning of Snowden. That is when I knew Snowden was right.
The NSA’s budget is actually scattered cross the globe. The NRO primarily funds many of the sensor systems used to feed the NSA. So, combined, they have a huge budget that is scattered primarily within the USAF but also consumed by all DoD departments and government agencies.
I think Snowden said the intelligence black budget was 52 billion in 2012 or 13.
Freegards
Snowden was a low level systems technician contractor for a vert limited time. He is not an all knowing individual of the intelligence community.
Our government is corrupt, they spy on Americans, they lie to spy on newly elected Presidents - it’s out of control.
I’m not saying he is. I don’t trust any of it. I sure can’t feel sorry for the sundry intelligence services.
Freegards
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