NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, an analyst with a U.S. defence contractor, is seen in this file still image taken from video during an interview by The Guardian in his hotel room in Hong Kong June 6, 2013. REUTERS-Glenn Greenwald-Laura Poitras-Courtesy of The Guardian-Handout via Reuters
Somewhere In Russia, Edward Snowden Is Smiling -- James Oliphant, National Journal
President Obama couldn't say it—he denied it repeatedly in fact—but Edward Snowden was very much the reason he felt compelled to stand before the national press on a sun-baked Friday August afternoon and attempt to explain why his administration would pursue reforms of its counterterrorism programs even though—and this is the tricky part—he wouldn't concede that those programs are flawed in any way.
That brings us back to Snowden, the whistleblower/patriot/traitor squirreled away somewhere in Russia after revealing key operational details of the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance programs. The drip-drip of disclosures was slowly eroding the public's faith in the system, the president said Friday, and he needed to take steps to reassure the world that it wasn't being abused. He worried aloud that Americans were increasingly viewing the government as an Orwellian "Big Brother."
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My Comment: President Obama clearly did not expect to find himself in the position of defending the NSA program this summer .... but that is where he was here today. And what is troubling for those who support the NSA's surveillance programs is the promise from the reporter who broke this story that he has plenty more Snowden leaks to come. So is Edward Snowden smiling .... yes and no .... yes because his leaks have had an impact .... and no because his life is over as he knows it.
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