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Why People Like Edward Snowden Will Keep Running to the Press

Posted  December 24, 2013

By Gordon Schnell  (Published in Business Insider)

Redemption can be so sweet. Edward Snowden and his cadre of supporters no doubt were already feeling this from the many accolades and tributes he received this year (most recently, runner-up to the Pope for Time magazine’s Person of the Year!). Now, there is a decision by a federal district court to further cement his validation, finding a “substantial likelihood” that the NSA’s collection of phone records Snowden exposed is unconstitutional.  The indefatigable Judge Richard Leon could not imagine a more “indiscriminate” and “arbitrary invasion” of our privacy. “Almost-Orwellian,” he called it. So horrific there is “little doubt” that James Madison, author of our Constitution, “would be aghast.”

But it is not this judicial corroboration that will ensure a continued flow of national security whistleblowers like Snowden leaking classified information to the press. Nor is it the global adulation Snowden has received for standing up against what he saw as a government behaving badly. Neither is likely to last all that long.  So why can we expect to see so many more Snowdens in our future? The answer lies in how the government is choosing to deal with these kinds of whistleblowers. It seems to think that locking them away for life is the right approach. This, coming from an administration that appreciates the value of whistleblowers, having presided over the largest expansion of whistleblower protections in decades.  It just does not consider Snowden the type of whistleblower worth protecting.  It is no wonder he felt compelled to go straight to the media . . . . Click here for more.


5 Replies to Why People Like Edward Snowden Will Keep Running to the Press

  • Barbra Orr says:

    Thank you Rich. I agree with you. I live in Oklahoma so I know all about Karen Silkwood. It took 10 plus years to settle the case and we still do not know for sure who killed her. Yes killed her, that was not an accident. the Kerr family was very powerful with lots of secrets. After Silkwood died and the press got involved the plant closed. You want something changed or for the world to know go to the press.

  • Marlowe Doman says:

    I don’t think members of Congress are permitted to disclose classified information on their own discretion – as many already knew about these programs and did not disclose them despite wanting to do something about them. Also, thinking members of Congress generally cannot garner public support if its not already disclosed to the public. Otherwise all you have is the one-sided story coming from the NSA that “we need these programs to protect us from the terrorists.”

    http://www.whistleblowerfiles.net

  • Rich says:

    Ethan you may have missed such events as internment of US citizens ( Japanese. But others) during WW2 or. Watergate or any of others. The political system is rigged and bought off. Think Karen Silkwood? Media is and should be where it goes. According to our government if you have nothing to hide you have no reason to not be open to being watched 24/7 and an open book. Funny how that doesn’t work for governments.

    1. Ela says:

      several times that it troubles him, besucae he’s inclined to think there should be a problem, but wasn’t able to spot one.Maybe he’s coming around to the idea that concentration of wealth and income depresses everyone else’s spending. But really, we don’t need “redistribution” so much as fair interpretation of labor laws, an end to the ridiculous tax breaks and havens the rich enjoy, a reasonable inheritance tax rate, and paying for things like infrastructure, social security, and healthcare that we’ve all agreed to. (If fixing the roads and the power grid is redistribution so be it.) The problem would solve itself in about the same 30 years it took to create it.

  • Ethan S. Burger says:

    Whistleblowers like Snowden should NOT go to the press!!!!!

    There is no privilege for journalists.

    Instead such individuals should contact a staff member of one or more “like thinking” member of the Senate or House of Representatives.

    The Member could either release the information herself/himself and enjoys immunity.

    The Member might also organize hearings on the topic containing both open and closed sessions.

Comments are closed