With the permission of Ronald Wall, I am posting his commentary on my article, which is below. His perspective is extremely important: "I write this with some trepidation knowing full well that it will end up in someone’s database. I am a former military intelligence analyst who spent almost seven years at NSA. When I was at the agency, only DOD civilian personnel and military analysts who had undergone extensive background checks and annual reviews to insure their loyalty were give access to our nation’s vital secrets. Since then, going all the way back to Reagan (when I left the agency), policy changes, largely because of Republican influence for deregulation and out-sourcing, have resulted in NSA selling out to corporate interests and hiring more and more contractors; now it seems it is letting those contractors do the security clearances of their own employees. It that sense, with Snowden the NSA and the U.S. government are reaping its rewards. "I am no libertarian or right wing fanatic. I have supported President Obama since he first announced his run for the White House, based on his promise of change and transparency. However, since then he has continued Bush policies of drone attacks even against American citizens and untold numbers of “collateral damage.” Now we learn that NSA is indiscriminately sifting through the communications of millions of Americans on American soil. Promises of safety checks against violating the free speech rights of Americans are hollow promises. Once we allow our government to do this, only under the eye of a secret court, our freedom is in terrible jeopardy. In my day, this was strictly forbidden by law. NSA could only look at communications from the United States at the foreign end of the conversation, and the U.S. side was purged. It could not, in any sense, intercept or analyze communications on the U.S. side. This seemed as adequate protection for our freedom of speech and it worked for the entire cold war. Now, we have forfeited this protection in the name of national security. Once we give up any of our civil protections under the Bill of Rights in the name of national security, we are well on our way to becoming just another police state. "I have mixed emotions about Edward Snowden. That said I do believe that he is a whistle-blower and is genuinely committed to protecting our rights under the U.S. Constitution. The extraordinary efforts by our government to prevent Snowden from receiving refuge in another country are unprecedented. Even when former CIA defectors, who sold out for money, have received protection in Soviet Russia during the cold war, there never has been the extreme pressure by the U.S. on foreign allies or South American neighbors to deny sanctuary or safe passage to those defectors. If we support these efforts by our government in the name of the war on terrorism, we have failed our obligation to defend the Constitution. I took an oath to do just that. Now, I must decide which is more important to me, and I am extremely sad to be in that position."
Posted on: Sun, 14 Jul 2013 19:56:36 +0000
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