Sunday, June 09, 2013

if this is in the WaPo and the Guardian, you KNOW sum'n not right....,



WaPo | Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former undercover CIA employee, unmasked himself Sunday as the principal source of recent Washington Post and Guardian disclosures about top-secret National Security Agency programs.

Snowden, who has contracted for the NSA and works for the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, denounced what he described as systematic surveillance of innocent citizens and said in an interview that “it’s important to send a message to government that people will not be intimidated.”

Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. said Saturday that the NSA had initiated a Justice Department investigation into who leaked the information — an investigation supported by intelligence officials in Congress.

Snowden, whose full name is Edward Joseph Snowden, said he understands the risks of disclosing the information but felt it was important to reveal.

“I intend to ask for asylum from any countries that believe in free speech and oppose the victimization of global privacy,” Snowden told The Post from Hong Kong, where he has been staying. The Guardian was the first to publicly identify Snowden. Both media organizations made his name public with his consent.
“I’m not going to hide,” Snowden said Sunday afternoon. “Allowing the U.S. government to intimidate its people with threats of retaliation for revealing wrongdoing is contrary to the public interest.”

Asked whether he believed his disclosures would change anything, he said: “I think they already have. Everyone everywhere now understands how bad things have gotten — and they’re talking about it. They have the power to decide for themselves whether they are willing to sacrifice their privacy to the surveillance state.”

Snowden said nobody was aware of his actions, including those closest to him. He said there wasn’t a single event that spurred his decision to leak the information.

“It was more of a slow realization that presidents could openly lie to secure the office and then break public promises without consequence,” he said.

Snowden said President Obama hasn’t lived up to his pledges of transparency. He blamed a lack of accountability in the Bush administration for continued abuses. The White House could not immediately be reached for comment Sunday afternoon.

“It set an example that when powerful figures are suspected of wrongdoing, releasing them from the accountability of law is ‘for our own good,’ ” Snowden said. “That’s corrosive to the basic fairness of society.”

10 comments:

Joyce M said...

Does this mean that he is OK with Mark Zuckerberg and his Russian investors knowing everybody's business from Facebook? When I called to activate a new credit card, I was asked questions about family and residences going back 25 years. Comcast probably knows more about me than Uncle Sam. They know what we watch on TV, when we are online, where we go and who we communicate with, where we work and study. The government can just buy Facebook, Youtube, Google or Comcast and they will know everything they want to know about just about anybody

CNu said...

lol, why would the government ever even think about buying any of these cows, when they can get the milk free for the asking?

Ed Dunn said...

Who goes to Hong Kong for asylum? I was discussing this with the NYT guy Kristoff on FB and he agreed with as we both stated the CIA and the Chinese is rushing to this guy hotel room right now to seize him immediately. The Chinese will try to get him as a bargaining chip while the CIA realize this guy is an amateur idiot who will break at the drop of a dime if someone else get to him first.


I'm also extremely confused why this 29-year old punk even bothered? What was he telling the Guardian we didn't know already for the past 10 years? Why didn't he realize what he was presenting was not a secret but does have a heavy price?

CNu said...

lol, straight.out.of.a.comic.book....., (or movie) http://images.contentreserve.com/ImageType-100/1531-1/%7B0156629B-980F-402C-90D3-E5BBC2C7CC41%7DImg100.jpg

As far as I'm concerned, this whole cabaret, peek-a-boo exposure of "what it is" and "what it does" is nothing more than a necessary precursor to its very public and widespread application and use.

Ed Dunn said...

To answer the question, yes - I think he was Assange deeply embedded disciple but was very tacky and wacky as far as I'm concerned.

Joyce M said...

Google could have been a good investment. AT&T was a good investment for us--always pays it's dividends and has risen 12+ dollars in stock price since we bought it. Silicon Valley has sold more information to advertisers than it probably gave the government.

Joyce M said...

The Chinese will try to debrief him and relieve him of any important documents he may have with him. Then, it's back to the U.S. to play checkers with Robert Hanssen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JPmiGTT6tI

Joyce M said...

He is more likely a Paul Rand operative. He donated to Ron Paul's 2012 Presidential campaign. http://images.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?12952514893 Now Rand Paul wants to sue the NSA. http://www.mediaite.com/tv/rand-paul-tells-fox-viewers-to-join-lawsuit-against-nsa-im-going-to-challenge-this-at-the-supreme-court/ The republicans are starting their campaigns early.

CNu said...

It's not an either/or proposition. The big tent passing itself off as the GOP has far and away the most to worry about, given that it's now been parasitized by violent white nationalists, dixiecrat seditionists, and a host of other folks who DO have something to worry about in the context of these capabilities http://subrealism.blogspot.com/2009/04/homeland-security-on-guard-for-right.html

http://subrealism.blogspot.com/2009/03/missouri-report-draws-criticism.html

Given the coordinated federal suppression of the Occupy movement, it's abundantly obvious that these capabilities exist for the equal opportunity detection, deterrence and dissection of any and all organized dissent.

The fact that the yokels in the GOP big tent and the vocals in the Occupy dissent will likely never come to terms over their common ground and resist in any meaningfully coordinated manner will now begin to be whipsawed in the contrived us vs. them narrative which is the grist of logic, language and values prison in which po'folks minds have been locked since Bacon's Rebellion.

As I noted to Dale's attention a couple of days ago http://subrealism.blogspot.com/2013/06/increasing-human-grasp-of-god.html#comment-923224667

Ed Dunn said...

This makes perfect sense Joyce...but who is the idiot in the NSA that put him on? That's the real question.

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