First, a note from Merlin:
His description of his military and intelligence careers seem a bit
off. He claims he soured on the Army because “most of the people
training us seemed pumped up about killing Arabs, not helping anyone.”
The horrible act of CIA skulduggery that he describes as his
“formative” experience involved getting a Swiss banker drunk so they
could form a “bond” that led to “successful recruitment.” That doesn’t
sound like a particularly hair-raising bit of tradecraft, and Snowden is
just plain nuts if he thinks intel agencies around the world are not
employing such recruiting tactics on a regular basis.
Some will read Snowden’s interview with the Guardian and
come away thinking he might be suffering from mental illness, and for
all his talk about growing disillusioned with the U.S. government, his
naivete toward states like China appears boundless. (Here’s a tip for
you, Mr. Snowden: if your new pals in China decide you’re a threat, you
won’t be barricading yourself inside any luxury hotels and giving
interviews about all the terrible things they might be prepared
to do.) He doesn’t seem worried about the actions of any government
but the one he betrayed. Like many who hold such sentiments, he sees
himself as a crusader standing up for what America was, or could be
again. That line of thinking can be used to justify any number of
offenses against what America is. Snowden says “I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong,” but in fact he did do something wrong – he willfully broke a number of laws, unlike the government agency he “blew the whistle on.”
The story he revealed is, nevertheless, disturbing. The NSA may have
acted within legal parameters, but still done something many (most?)
Americans don’t agree with, and didn’t think they signed up for.
There’s a lot of grumbling about the Fourth Amendment, but frankly
we’ve grown very comfortable with legislation that overrides
Constitutional principle; I’d love to reverse that trend, but I doubt
such a crusade will begin here. Still, many Americans would agree with
Snowden when he says that ongoing, indiscriminate surveillance of people
who have done nothing wrong is unacceptable.
The Obama Administration has proven itself uniquely untrustworthy
when it comes to handling sensitive information about American
citizens. Even if the President himself is given copious benefit of the
doubt, his own defense against the IRS scandal claims his
Administration is riddled with people who won’t hesitate to abuse
confidential data for personal and political ends, and Barack Obama has
expressed absolutely zero interest in cleaning house.
But do we really want to subcontract decisions about official secrecy
to self-appointed freelance judges, from Edward Snowden to Julian
Assange of Wikileaks fame? They have even less accountability
than the governments they harass, and they’re rather picky about which
governments get the transparency treatment. They’re creating a world in
which the United States and its closest allies are the only governments
that can’t run secret intelligence operations – an act of unilateral
intel disarmament that is no more likely to produce voluntary,
reciprocal transparency from the world’s bad actors than unilateral
nuclear disarmament would have been.
Personally, I’m deeply concerned about what the NSA did, but I also
remain deeply concerned about the terrorists they’re trying to catch.
There must be some way for them to pursue our security goals without
monitoring everyone. Americans need a government that respects
our right to privacy. We also need soldiers, agents, and contractors
who respect their oaths. Snowden certainly has given us plenty to worry
about.
Update: A milblogger finds Snowden’s account of his aborted military career tough to swallow.
The
29-year-old source behind the biggest intelligence leak in the NSA's
history explains his motives, his uncertain future and why he never
intended on hiding in the shadows
• Q&A with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I do not expect to see home again'
Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill and Laura Poitras in Hong Kong
Monday 10 June 2013
The Guardian
----
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."
Despite his determination to be publicly unveiled, he repeatedly
insisted that he wants to avoid the media spotlight. "I don't want
public attention because I don't want the story to be about me. I want
it to be about what the US government is doing."
He does not fear the consequences of going public, he said, only
that doing so will distract attention from the issues raised by his
disclosures. "I know the media likes to personalise political debates,
and I know the government will demonise me."
Despite these fears, he remained hopeful his outing will not divert
attention from the substance of his disclosures. "I really want the
focus to be on these documents and the debate which I hope this will
trigger among citizens around the globe about what kind of world we want
to live in." He added: "My sole motive is to inform the public as to
that which is done in their name and that which is done against them."
He has had "a very comfortable life" that included a salary of
roughly $200,000, a girlfriend with whom he shared a home in Hawaii, a
stable career, and a family he loves. "I'm willing to sacrifice all of
that because I can't in good conscience allow the US government to
destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around
the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly
building."
'I am not afraid, because this is the choice I've made'
Three weeks ago, Snowden made final preparations that resulted in
last week's series of blockbuster news stories. At the NSA office in
Hawaii where he was working, he copied the last set of documents he
intended to disclose.
He then advised his NSA supervisor that he needed to be away from
work for "a couple of weeks" in order to receive treatment for epilepsy,
a condition he learned he suffers from after a series of seizures last
year.
As he packed his bags, he told his girlfriend that he had to be
away for a few weeks, though he said he was vague about the reason.
"That is not an uncommon occurrence for someone who has spent the last
decade working in the intelligence world."
On May 20, he boarded a flight to Hong Kong, where he has remained
ever since. He chose the city because "they have a spirited commitment
to free speech and the right of political dissent", and because he
believed that it was one of the few places in the world that both could
and would resist the dictates of the US government.
In the three weeks since he arrived, he has been ensconced in a
hotel room. "I've left the room maybe a total of three times during my
entire stay," he said. It is a plush hotel and, what with eating meals
in his room too, he has run up big bills.
He is deeply worried about being spied on. He lines the door of his
hotel room with pillows to prevent eavesdropping. He puts a large red
hood over his head and laptop when entering his passwords to prevent any
hidden cameras from detecting them.
Though that may sound like paranoia to some, Snowden has good
reason for such fears. He worked in the US intelligence world for almost
a decade. He knows that the biggest and most secretive surveillance
organisation in America, the NSA, along with the most powerful
government on the planet, is looking for him.
Since the disclosures began to emerge, he has watched television
and monitored the internet, hearing all the threats and vows of
prosecution emanating from Washington.
And he knows only too well the sophisticated technology available
to them and how easy it will be for them to find him. The NSA police and
other law enforcement officers have twice visited his home in Hawaii
and already contacted his girlfriend, though he believes that may have
been prompted by his absence from work, and not because of suspicions of
any connection to the leaks.
"All my options are bad," he said. The US could begin extradition
proceedings against him, a potentially problematic, lengthy and
unpredictable course for Washington. Or the Chinese government might
whisk him away for questioning, viewing him as a useful source of
information. Or he might end up being grabbed and bundled into a plane
bound for US territory.
"Yes, I could be rendered by the CIA. I could have people come
after me. Or any of the third-party partners. They work closely with a
number of other nations. Or they could pay off the Triads. Any of their
agents or assets," he said.
"We have got a CIA station just up the road – the consulate here in
Hong Kong – and I am sure they are going to be busy for the next week.
And that is a concern I will live with for the rest of my life, however
long that happens to be."
Having watched the Obama administration prosecute whistleblowers at
a historically unprecedented rate, he fully expects the US government
to attempt to use all its weight to punish him. "I am not afraid," he
said calmly, "because this is the choice I've made."
He predicts the government will launch an investigation and "say I
have broken the Espionage Act and helped our enemies, but that can be
used against anyone who points out how massive and invasive the system
has become".
The only time he became emotional during the many hours of
interviews was when he pondered the impact his choices would have on his
family, many of whom work for the US government. "The only thing I fear
is the harmful effects on my family, who I won't be able to help any
more. That's what keeps me up at night," he said, his eyes welling up
with tears.
'You can't wait around for someone else to act'
Snowden did not always believe the US government posed a threat to
his political values. He was brought up originally in Elizabeth City,
North Carolina. His family moved later to Maryland, near the NSA
headquarters in Fort Meade.
By his own admission, he was not a stellar student. In order to get
the credits necessary to obtain a high school diploma, he attended a
community college in Maryland, studying computing, but never completed
the coursework. (He later obtained his GED.)
In 2003, he enlisted in the US army and began a training program to
join the Special Forces. Invoking the same principles that he now cites
to justify his leaks, he said: "I wanted to fight in the Iraq war
because I felt like I had an obligation as a human being to help free
people from oppression".
He recounted how his beliefs about the war's purpose were quickly
dispelled. "Most of the people training us seemed pumped up about
killing Arabs, not helping anyone," he said. After he broke both his
legs in a training accident, he was discharged.
After that, he got his first job in an NSA facility, working as a
security guard for one of the agency's covert facilities at the
University of Maryland. From there, he went to the CIA, where he worked
on IT security. His understanding of the internet and his talent for
computer programming enabled him to rise fairly quickly for someone who
lacked even a high school diploma.
By 2007, the CIA stationed him with diplomatic cover in Geneva,
Switzerland. His responsibility for maintaining computer network
security meant he had clearance to access a wide array of classified
documents.
That access, along with the almost three years he spent around CIA
officers, led him to begin seriously questioning the rightness of what
he saw.
He described as formative an incident in which he claimed CIA
operatives were attempting to recruit a Swiss banker to obtain secret
banking information. Snowden said they achieved this by purposely
getting the banker drunk and encouraging him to drive home in his car.
When the banker was arrested for drunk driving, the undercover agent
seeking to befriend him offered to help, and a bond was formed that led
to successful recruitment.
"Much of what I saw in Geneva really disillusioned me about how my
government functions and what its impact is in the world," he says. "I
realised that I was part of something that was doing far more harm than
good."
He said it was during his CIA stint in Geneva that he thought for
the first time about exposing government secrets. But, at the time, he
chose not to for two reasons.
First, he said: "Most of the secrets the CIA has are about people,
not machines and systems, so I didn't feel comfortable with disclosures
that I thought could endanger anyone". Secondly, the election of Barack
Obama in 2008 gave him hope that there would be real reforms, rendering
disclosures unnecessary.
He left the CIA in 2009 in order to take his first job working for a
private contractor that assigned him to a functioning NSA facility,
stationed on a military base in Japan. It was then, he said, that he
"watched as Obama advanced the very policies that I thought would be
reined in", and as a result, "I got hardened."
The primary lesson from this experience was that "you can't wait
around for someone else to act. I had been looking for leaders, but I
realised that leadership is about being the first to act."
Over the next three years, he learned just how all-consuming the
NSA's surveillance activities were, claiming "they are intent on making
every conversation and every form of behaviour in the world known to
them".
He described how he once viewed the internet as "the most important
invention in all of human history". As an adolescent, he spent days at a
time "speaking to people with all sorts of views that I would never
have encountered on my own".
But he believed that the value of the internet, along with basic
privacy, is being rapidly destroyed by ubiquitous surveillance. "I don't
see myself as a hero," he said, "because what I'm doing is
self-interested: I don't want to live in a world where there's no
privacy and therefore no room for intellectual exploration and
creativity."
Once he reached the conclusion that the NSA's surveillance net
would soon be irrevocable, he said it was just a matter of time before
he chose to act. "What they're doing" poses "an existential threat to
democracy", he said.
A matter of principle
As strong as those beliefs are, there still remains the question:
why did he do it? Giving up his freedom and a privileged lifestyle?
"There are more important things than money. If I were motivated by
money, I could have sold these documents to any number of countries and
gotten very rich."
For him, it is a matter of principle. "The government has granted
itself power it is not entitled to. There is no public oversight. The
result is people like myself have the latitude to go further than they
are allowed to," he said.
His allegiance to internet freedom is reflected in the stickers on
his laptop: "I support Online Rights: Electronic Frontier Foundation,"
reads one. Another hails the online organisation offering anonymity, the
Tor Project.
Asked by reporters to establish his authenticity to ensure he is
not some fantasist, he laid bare, without hesitation, his personal
details, from his social security number to his CIA ID and his expired
diplomatic passport. There is no shiftiness. Ask him about anything in
his personal life and he will answer.
He is quiet, smart, easy-going and self-effacing. A master on
computers, he seemed happiest when talking about the technical side of
surveillance, at a level of detail comprehensible probably only to
fellow communication specialists. But he showed intense passion when
talking about the value of privacy and how he felt it was being steadily
eroded by the behaviour of the intelligence services.
His manner was calm and relaxed but he has been understandably
twitchy since he went into hiding, waiting for the knock on the hotel
door. A fire alarm goes off. "That has not happened before," he said,
betraying anxiety wondering if was real, a test or a CIA ploy to get him
out onto the street.
Strewn about the side of his bed are his suitcase, a plate with the
remains of room-service breakfast, and a copy of Angler, the biography
of former vice-president Dick Cheney.
Ever since last week's news stories began to appear in the
Guardian, Snowden has vigilantly watched TV and read the internet to see
the effects of his choices. He seemed satisfied that the debate he
longed to provoke was finally taking place.
He lay, propped up against pillows, watching CNN's Wolf Blitzer ask
a discussion panel about government intrusion if they had any idea who
the leaker was. From 8,000 miles away, the leaker looked on impassively,
not even indulging in a wry smile.
Snowden said that he admires both Ellsberg and Manning, but argues
that there is one important distinction between himself and the army
private, whose trial coincidentally began the week Snowden's leaks began
to make news.
"I carefully evaluated every single document I disclosed to ensure
that each was legitimately in the public interest," he said. "There are
all sorts of documents that would have made a big impact that I didn't
turn over, because harming people isn't my goal. Transparency is."
He purposely chose, he said, to give the documents to journalists
whose judgment he trusted about what should be public and what should
remain concealed.
As for his future, he is vague. He hoped the publicity the leaks
have generated will offer him some protection, making it "harder for
them to get dirty".
He views his best hope as the possibility of asylum, with Iceland –
with its reputation of a champion of internet freedom – at the top of
his list. He knows that may prove a wish unfulfilled.
But after the intense political controversy he has already created
with just the first week's haul of stories, "I feel satisfied that this
was all worth it. I have no regrets."
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