Edward Snowden a traitor, Attorney-General George Brandis tells Washington think tank

Attorney-General George Brandis. Photo: Andrew Meares

Those who doubted that Edward Snowden was a traitor were either of the self-loathing left or the anarcho-libertarian right, Attorney-General George Brandis said during a speech in Washington DC on Tuesday afternoon.

During his address at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a leading Washington foreign policy think tank, Senator Brandis spoke about the tension between protecting civil liberties and combating terrorism using surveillance.

He said that as the minister responsible for Australias homeland security, the more intelligence he read about the capacities of terrorists, the more he believed governments had the responsibility to use surveillance even at the expense of some personal privacy of their citizens.

Edward Snowden speaks via video with members of the Council of Europe last month. Photo: Reuters

He said intercepting and analysing global communications was at the heart of the global counter-terrorism response.

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But he said that during what he called the post-Snowden environment, data interception and collection were more controversial than before.

Some, usually those with a better informed appreciation of the capabilities and danger of sophisticated modern terrorism, would wish for fewer limitations on intelligence gathering in the name of public safety, he said.

Others most commonly, those who do not bear responsibility for the protection of the public, and who have the luxury of approaching the question from a largely philosophical or legalistic perspective, argue that there should be much wider limitations.

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Edward Snowden a traitor, Attorney-General George Brandis tells Washington think tank