Category Archives: Edward Snowden

Hillary Clinton’s Unreliable Statements on Whistleblowing

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Her remarks on Edward Snowden give Democrats a preview of the misinformation they can expect if they make her their standard-bearer.

Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Hillary Clinton's recent attack on Edward Snowden was cited by my colleague Peter Beinart as an example of her newfound ability to exude authenticity in public statements. "She said something some liberals will not likethat America needs to spy and that Snowdens motives are suspectbut which she undoubtedly believes," Beinart wrote. "It sounded authentic because her natural instincts are to see the world as a Hobbesian place and to defend Americas governing institutions against those on the right or left who would delegitimize them."

Beinart is right: There is every reason to believe Clinton authentically distrusts Snowden and his actions. So I concur with his analysis of those sentiments. But elsewhere in the same interview, Clinton spoke words that Democratic primary voters ought to take as evidence that she is a bullshitter. Mother Jones gives this account of Clinton's words:

Hillary Clinton didn't have to directly deal with Edward Snowden's leaks when she was secretary of state. Clinton had already stepped down from her post by the time the Guardian published its first revelations on the expansive scope of spying by the National Security Agency. But at an event at the University of Connecticut ... Clinton made it clear that she's no fan of the NSA leaker, insinuating that Snowden had cooperated with countries hostile to the United States and unintentionally aided terrorist organizations. "I don't understand why he couldn't have been part of the debate at home," she said.

Clinton questioned Snowden's intentions in fleeing the country before offerring his information to the public. "When he emerged and when he absconded with all that material, I was puzzled, because we have all these protections for whistleblowers," Clinton said, when the moderator asked if there had been any positive effects for security policy following the NSA leaks. "If he were concerned and wanted to be part of the American debate, he could have been."

This gets significant facts wrong. At best, Clinton is ignorant about federal whistleblower laws, and if we presume that she has the baseline knowledge needed to be competent in her former roles, she is willfully misleading her audience.

"I was puzzled," she said, "because we have all these protections for whistleblowers." The Freedom of the Press Foundation calls out her misinformation:

Contractors like Snowden lack the protections that federal employees are entitled to, and the government is free to retaliate against such people under the law. As Angela Canterbury, director of public policy at the Project on Government Oversight, has explained: There is a gaping loophole for intelligence community contractors. The riskiest whistle-blowing that you can possibly do on the government is as an intelligence contractor.

As for the idea that Snowden could've been "part of the debate" at home, rather than fleeing abroad:

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Hillary Clinton's Unreliable Statements on Whistleblowing

‘He Is Priceless’: Here’s Why Edward Snowden Is Screwed

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REUTERS/Denis Sinyakov

The flag reads "For Putin. And that's all."

The New York Times reports that Snowden retained prominent Washington defense lawyer Plato Cato Cacheris to negotiate a potential deal with the U.S. government that could bring the 30-year-old American home.

But an agreement is unlikely since Snowden's camp wants leniency for the surveillance debate started by his leaks to journalists, while top Pentagon officials believe Snowden also took military documents. The Justice Department's position is that Snowden is not a whistleblower.

The Times notes that it's still unclear how many documents Snowden took or when he gave up access. And when one considers that the former NSA systems administrator was a "genius among geniuses," living under Kremlin protection for 10 months and counting is a very vulnerable position.

"To a foreign intelligence service, Snowden is priceless," Robert Caruso, a former assistant command security manager in the Navy and a consultant, told BI. "He can be be exploited again and again."

Caruso explained that while U.S. agencies can "change names of facilities, physically relocate the more sensitive activities, [reassign] personnel he endangered, [etc.]" to mitigate damage from leaked documents, Snowden cannot alter or unlearn the granular level of detail with which he knows NSA systems.

And the classified intel in his head is what makes him so appealing to a U.S. adversary like Russia, especially because Snowden is not a true spy.

"He does not have the training to deal with this kind of situation," Russian security services expert Andrei Soldatov previously told BI. "Every time, he found himself in some new difficult circumstances and he was forced to make some decision. And long term, it's a very successful thing [for Russia]."

So as long as Snowden doesn't reach a plea deal with Washington, the former CIA technician is stuck in a Kremlin-controlled environment.

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'He Is Priceless': Here's Why Edward Snowden Is Screwed

UFO Sightings Edward Snowden Leaks Information To President Putin? Incredible UFO Videos 2014 – Video

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UFO Sightings Edward Snowden Leaks Information To President Putin? Incredible UFO Videos 2014
UFO Sightings Edward Snowden Leaks Information To President Putin? Also an Interview With Ed In regards to His shocking Videos, along with Truthseeker1 who shares his Opinion on Compelling...

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UFO Sightings Edward Snowden Leaks Information To President Putin? Incredible UFO Videos 2014 - Video

Edward Snowden: NSA setting fire to the internet

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"The Constitution was violated on a massive scale": Edward Snowden. Photo: Getty Images

Edward Snowden has made a rare video appearance at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas, condemning mass government surveillance and urging members of the tech-savvy audience to take action against it.

Speaking from Russia, where he was granted asylum, the former intelligence contractor said proposed reforms at the US National Security Agency (NSA) show he was vindicated in leaking classified material.

He said he had no regrets about leaking classified information. Asked ifhe would leak secret government information again, he replied: "absolutely, yes".

Internet firefighters

Snowden said the US government's mass surveillance failed to catch the Boston Marathon bombers and warned that governments have created an adversarial climate on the internet.

"They're setting fire to the global internet, and you guys in the room are the global firefighters," Snowden said.

He appeared against a backdrop of the US Constitution with "We the people" written in large letters. The video feed was broadcast on a large screen before several thousand credentialed festival attendees in two conference halls and streamed live online.

"I saw that the Constitution was violated on a massive scale," Snowden said to applause, adding that his revelations of government spying on private communications have resulted in protections that have benefited the public and global society.

Last year, Snowden, who had been working at an NSA facility as an employee of Booz Allen Hamilton, leaked a raft of secret documents that revealeda vast US government system for monitoring phone and internet data.

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Edward Snowden: NSA setting fire to the internet

Edward Snowden: Mass surveillance backfiring on US anti-terrorism efforts

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NSA leaker Edward Snowden speaks at South By Southwest Interactive Festival via the internet, advocating greater use of encryption and saying he's satisfied with his decision to leak.

Washington: America's spy agencies are so focused on "mass surveillance" that they have missed clues about terrorist incidents, such as last year's Boston Marathon bombing and an attempted attack on an aircraftat Christmas in 2009, former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden says.

In an hour-long video discussion on Monday hosted by the South by Southwest music, film and technology conference in Austin, Texas, Mr Snowden, who is living in asylum at an undisclosed location in Russia, asserted that the US National Security Agency's efforts to collect information in bulk have backfired.

"We've actually had a tremendous intelligence failure because ... we're monitoring everybody's communications instead of suspects' communications" - a situation, he asserts, that has "caused us to miss" intelligence.

"We've actually had a tremendous intelligence failure because ... we're monitoring everybody's communications instead of suspects' communications": Edward Snowden. Photo: Reuters

Mr Snowden, who faces criminal espionage charges for disclosing top-secret documents to journalists, has prompted a global debate about surveillance and forced the US government to be more transparent about once-classified programs.

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His actions have drawn harsh criticism from senior US officials, who contend that the leaks have put national security at risk, but approval from technologists and privacy advocates, who say the leaks have forced technology companies to make their systems more secure.

"Let me be clear about one thing," said American Civil Liberties Union principal technologist Christopher Soghoian, one of two ACLU representatives who took part in the discussion with Mr Snowden: "His disclosures have improved internet security."

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Edward Snowden: Mass surveillance backfiring on US anti-terrorism efforts

Snowden at SXSW: The NSA set fire to the future of the Internet

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Edward Snowden appearing live via Google Hangouts video at South by Southwest Interactive in Austin, Texas. Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET

Edward Snowden accused the National Security Agency and the US government today of "setting fire to the future of the Internet."

In a high-profile video appearance at the South by Southwest festival -- his video was beamed over Google Hangout from Russia to Austin, Texas, apparently jokingly through "seven proxies" -- Snowden touched on myriad topics, ranging from privacy to the ramifications of government spying, as he answered questions from the Internet at large via Twitter.

"The NSA...they're setting fire to the future of the Internet. And the people in this room, you guys are the firefighters. We need you to help us fix this," Snowden said.

Moderator Ben Wizner, the director of the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, said that Snowden's actions have led to a "reinvigorated" interest in government oversight.

"Sometimes it needs serious sweeping, and Ed Snowden's been the broom," Wizner said.

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One of the first questions that Wizner asked Snowden was why he was addressing the technorati at South by Southwest instead of the policy wonks in Washington, D.C.

"The tech community are the ones who could help fix this situation, more than people in Washington," Snowden said. "There's a tech response needed. It's the makers, thinkers, and the dev community who can help make sure we're safe."

Christopher Soghoian, a privacy advocate and principal technologist at the American Civil Liberties Union, was onstage with Wizner in Austin. He agreed with Snowden that the tech community and technology companies have improved their use of encryption, which often have been lackadaisical about implementing it.

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Snowden at SXSW: The NSA set fire to the future of the Internet