COMMUNITY COLUMNIST — Unlike Edward Snowden, Daniel Ellsberg faced the music. By Marcia Meoli Community columnist Posted Aug 20, 2013 @ 02:10 AM I took some time to review the controversies surrounding U.S. surveillance practices since the story broke about the leaks by Edward Snowden. There are so many layers involved in this that it really does not lend itself to quick conclusions. Some have been too quick and possibly irresponsible in their public statements on these issues. We have questions related to whether Snowden is a traitor, a hero or something else. We have the very complicated questions in learning what our government is doing, whether it is done according to law, and whether the law should be changed on these subjects. There may be other issues. I will start with Mr. Snowden. I am astounded as to how Edward Snowden achieved a place of such importance. At 30 years old, his resume shows a history of incompleteness and shifting from job to job in the military, CIA and intelligence community agencies and contractors. Yet he ends up with high-paying jobs and access to vast amounts of (reportedly) private and secret information. In an interview, which you can see on YouTube, he said that he had the ability to wiretap anyone. He leaked top-secret information while employed at the private contractor Booz Allen. He started working there only weeks prior to the leaks. How did someone on the job for such a short time get such access? That issue certainly needs more discussion. The South China Morning Post reported that Snowden took the Booz Allen job specifically to leak this information. After he leaked the information, Snowden pretty much ran off. He did not stay to defend his choices in court. He sought refuge in what were apparently the only countries that would provide it: China, Russia and certain South American countries, none of which have commitments to free speech or transparency. Snowden has been compared to Daniel Ellsberg, the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971, during the Vietnam War. Mr. Ellsberg worked for years to get others in the government to address his complaints about the war. But when he made his leaks, he stayed in the country and submitted to prosecution. He stated: “I did this clearly at my own jeopardy and I am prepared to answer to all the consequences of this decision.” The Nixon administration used illegal and unfair tactics against him, and this ultimately caused all the charges against him to be dismissed. So he stayed, faced the charges against him and, after the government misbehaved, he has remained a free man all these years in our country. His case shows that, even in the unusual times of the Nixon administration, there are limits to what the government can do. Despite Ellsberg ’s support of Snowden at the present time, Snowden, in my view, can ’t hold a candle to Ellsberg and his method of raising the issues that he considered so important. I know of no efforts by Snowden to get others to address his complaints prior to leaking. Perhaps I missed it. He presumes that our government will “render” him, which I interpret to mean that he thinks that he would be sent to another country and tortured. He presents no basis for such a fear or accusation. Snowden is hardly a hero. Whether he is a traitor, especially in the legal sense, is apparently a very complicated question. That might depend upon what we find is the effect of his disclosures on the valid work to protect us from terrorism and what we decide is appropriate for the government to do in so protecting us, hopefully after a thorough and thoughtful discussion. — Marcia Meoli is a Holland attorney and resident. Contact her through The Sentinel at newsroom@hollandsentinel.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 18:28:08 +0000
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