Why it is Time for Edward Snowden to Be Pardoned
By: Daniel Velasquez
Seven years after whistleblower Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, exposed the NSA’s mass surveillance of Americans via telephone records, the courts of appeal for the ninth circuit ruled that the NSA’s activity was unlawful and potentially unconstitutional. The court’s ruling has revived the debate of whether Edward Snowden is a patriot or traitor, and whether or not he should be pardoned.
Edward Snowden is a Patriot and Should be Pardoned.
Snowden shined a light on the NSA’s mass surveillance program which was overreaching. It spied on the private communications of Americans and foreign citizens. A warrantless dragnet of individuals with no link to terrorism. The NSA’s surveillance violated our Fourth Amendment right that protects us and our private property from unreasonable search and seizure by our government. Snowden’s actions put the NSA’s spying at the forefront, and lead to a change in laws regarding our privacy with the introduction of the USA Freedom Act. Snowden’s revelations also led to tech companies like Apple going the extra mile to encrypt and protect their users information. Without Edward Snowden’s actions the NSA could have still been surveilling our personal communications. Snowden is a patriot. He gave up his freedom, as he is still in exile living abroad and still facing espionage charges in the U.S. He also gave up a great paying job as well as his friends and family for the greater good.
Narratives of Snowden Being a Traitor are Lacking.
After Snowden exposed the NSA's unconstitutional surveillance program, individuals in Congress and those within the intelligence community launched a smear campaign as they put out blatant lies or made claims on pure speculation rather than facts. One of their favorite and baseless claims is that he put U.S. national security at risk and sold or gave delicate information to our enemies, China and Russia.
First off, there is no evidence of that. It is all part of their smear campaign to paint him as a villainous traitor. What we do know, is Snowden was careful when leaking the information as no names or groups that were being investigated were revealed. Nor did the documents leak any military strategies or conversations between U.S. and foreign officials. Also, the journalist involved ran the stories by the government before publishing, and redacted any delicate information that could have harmed individuals or put our national security at risk.
It is clear that individuals in congress and within the intelligence community do not like Snowden. It has now been seven years since the documents have been leaked and there still has not been any sign of lives that have been hurt or damage done to our national security as a result of these documents being released. If there ever was, we would know, because it would be all over the news to prove Snowden is a traitor and that what he did was irresponsible and damaging.
I will concede that the manner in which Snowden went about leaking the documents and exposing the NSA could have been better. There are members in congress who back him, but overall what he did benefited the American public. It was disgusting to see senators like Clarence Saxby Chambliss call for Snowden to be publicly hung and our current president Donald Trump tweeting that he is a spy and should be executed.
Although, he recently contradicted himself, saying he did not know enough about the situation, but would consider a pardon. It is maddening to see our politicians be so hard on Snowden, but give those like James Clapper, who was the head of U.S. Intelligence a pass. Why were they not calling for him to be prosecuted? He lied to congress under oath when he said the government did not collect the telephone records of Americans. Why is it okay for Keith Alexander, former director of the NSA, who was overseeing the program that violated the privacy of millions of Americans, get away scot-free and just move on, as he recently got a job joining Amazon’s board of directors.
Snowden exposed the governments illegal activity and in return he was vilified, labeled a traitor and exiled. Something has to change, we need to protect whistleblowers. It is disheartening to see my country continuously punish the true patriots who speak up and protect their country from their governments' wrongdoing.