NSA Leaker Comes Forward: ‘I Know I Have Done Nothing Wrong’

The Blaze ^ | 6-9-2013 | Madeleine Morgenstern

[sheikdetailfeather]

A 29-year-old former CIA worker and current defense contractor employee has come forward as the source of the National Security Agency leaks to The Guardian newspaper:

The individual responsible for one of the most significant leaks in US political history is Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee of the defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. Snowden has been working at the National Security Agency for the last four years as an employee of various outside contractors, including Booz Allen and Dell.

The Guardian, after several days of interviews, is revealing his identity at his request. From the moment he decided to disclose numerous top-secret documents to the public, he was determined not to opt for the protection of anonymity. “I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong,” he said.

Snowden will go down in history as one of America’s most consequential whistleblowers, alongside Daniel Ellsberg and Bradley Manning. He is responsible for handing over material from one of the world’s most secretive organisations – the NSA.

In a note accompanying the first set of documents he provided, he wrote: “I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions,” but “I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant.”

Read the full report in The Guardian.

[microgood]

this guy took an oath ~ same oath many others of us have taken ~ and he tossed it away like a used condom.

Sounds like he is now qualified to run for Congress, or the Presidency for that matter.

[driftdiver]

I never received notification of a warrant for my phone calls. Perhaps the mailman ate it.

[Albion Wilde]

Surely you don’t expect that we’ll get the truth from DC?

No, most def. But as FReepers posting here have demonstrated, foreign news sources have been providing more and better detail about a lot of issues that the MSM will not touch.

[driftdiver]

Yes I own the information I speak on a telephone, just like I own the information I email, or put in a letter. To say otherwise is completely ignorant, even for you.

[abb]

No doubt about that. Government that goes unwatched by a free and independent press cannot be trusted.

[Flotsam_Jetsome]

"If someone "leaked" the truth about Benghazi and especially where zero was that night wouldn't that be patriotic?"

That would be simply sublime.

[Albion Wilde]

As a 19 yr old member of the air force I was given access to many things which would surprise most people. Surprised the heck outta me at the time.

Being an American used to be about honor, and it operated on an Honor System much of the time. When I think that it took 210 years before companies started having the extra expense of saftey-sealing every product on the market because of one lunatic who put poison in a bottle of Tylenol on a drugstore shelf in 1986, I feel great sorrow for the spiraling loss of the public trust so many of us enjoyed. It was unique in world history.

I think all of us are "one degree of Kevin Bacon" from doing something world-shattering at one time or another in our lives. Decisions we make in an instant can change the course of history for good or evil. It's the George Bailey phenomenon.

[Albion Wilde]

"this guy took an oath...and he tossed it away like a used condom."
Sounds like he is now qualified to run for Congress, or the Presidency for that matter.

Or a cushy tenured professorship at any top-tier university.

[abb]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ellievhall/the-movement-to-pardon-nsa-whistleblower-edward-snowden-has

The Movement To Pardon NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden Has Begun

[hoosiermama]

Rep Peter king just said on Fox.: ...He should have gone to the Justice Dept!.....
Omg
Where could he really have gone? He went to the American People!

[GBA]

I have no idea what really is going on, but yes, I agree with you.

Not only that. His leaving the nation and having to go all the way to Hong Kong to be safe begs the question, safe from who or what?

And, many average, ordinary Americans, now rightly alarmed at/by their own government, automatically answer that question, say: "obama and the GuvCo Beast."

They now know that obama and his GuvCo Beast have already targeted the TEA party, Christian, Jewish and pro-life groups, the AP and a Fox journalist, among others, they're going through all our email, listening to our phone calls...damn, no wonder this guy's scared. Who wouldn't be?!? "We're starting to get scared ourselves!" is what they are thinking/saying.

And now, those fine folks are on his side. Might just be the best insurance policy he could have.

In addition to everything else he probably has...

[redgolum]

Do you like the NSA listening to your phone calls?

[abb]

I saw that. I threw up a little in my mouth.

[PhilDragoo]

Report all disloyalty to your block commissar.

That NSA monitors all communication foreign and domestic has been a premise of anyone paying attention for the past decade and a half.

See Enemy of the State (1998) Gene Hackman, Will Smith, Jon Voight

That "Obama" no doubt had Roberts' vote by using inconvenient images is presumed

That "Obama" uses Holder in the manner of any given action of an incipient Third Reich is not subject to debate

That a "court must apporve a warrant" is fluff

Brennan* the Muslim Director of Central Intelligence deemed jihad a legitimate religious expression

Witness the example of Nidal Hassan existing for the year prior to his mass murder in a plasma envelope of dhimmintimidation

The president walked on the Article II Section 1 stipulation

That he attempted to walk on the First by crushing the Tea Party -- no problemo

That he attempted to walk on the Second by Fast and Furious (Aurora, Sandy Hook) -- no problem

That he is walking on the Fourth with all of the intelligence agencies vacuuming data plankton like Manta Rays -- enjoy your swim

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain--

--he has only your safety in mind

*(see also John Brennan's Spooky Swearing-In)

[driftdiver]

So Holder could investigate himself?

[MichiganConservative]

I have included messages to the NSA in my phone conversations for years now. I say things like “Hi NSA listener! I still hate the government and you’re still a traitorous dick!”

[LibertyLA]

>>Rep Peter king just said on Fox.:
>> ...He should have gone to the Justice Dept!.....

Did he actually say that with a straight face??

We are so far gone as a nation at this point I can hardly believe it. I really don’t know if there is any way back to a free America any more. It seems like we have built the ‘perfect beast’ now. And by ‘perfect beast’ I mean, a perfect anti-christ system.

[driftdiver]

This came out in Wired a few months ago. Don’t think it was sourced quite as well though.

[gonzo]

"...I think all of us are "one degree of Kevin Bacon" from doing something world-shattering at one time or another in our lives. Decisions we make in an instant can change the course of history for good or evil. It's the George Bailey phenomenon..."

Nice turn-of-a-phrase, Albion Wilde, and truer words were never spoken. I've had a couple of those moments in my life, and chose the 'good'.

The course of history may not have changed, but 40 - 50 people are happier ............................................................................ FRegards

[hoosiermama]

In fairness he listed several places : Congress DOJ etc
Sat shaking head at each but actually lol at DOJ

Yes he was serious. Huckslbee just had several whistleblowers on and exposed what, who, results. Hope it encourages others to come forward