(Community Matters) I’m not inclined to believe what could very probably be a well-organized misinformation campaign to turn public sentiment against Snowden – Edward Snowden Says He Sought Booz Allen Hamilton Job To Gather NSA Surveillance Evidence.
I’ve come to see Snowden as prophetic, a courageous,well-intentioned and driven young man who believes an unrestrained surveillance system is a real threat to our democracy. Doesn’t mean I know he didn’t break the law. Doesn’t mean I think the government is wrong pursuing him for prosecution.
Most of what we are hearing is someone’s PR campaign. I’ve decided I trust Greenwald the most about Snowden. Getting a GED, not graduating college . . . may I introduce you to some of our best entrepreneurs. Flunking out of the Special Forces . . . how many of us criticizing him have even enlisted? How many of our best & brightest who try to qualify flunk? 70% – I’m reading that approximately 70% of Army Special Forces candidates fail to quality.
What my evolving conclusions are about Prism: too much potential for misuse of the “metadata” as it’s being collected & stored. And, don’t believe it’s only “metadata” being collected and stored. Top US officials caught lying to Congress and us about this – Clapper’s testimony in response to Sen. Wyden’s question and last week’s conflicting testimony re: whether or not analysts in Hawaii could listen to phone calls & read emails without warrants.
I’m not sure that we’ve irreparably crossed lines I couldn’t live with . . . but I’m sure we will if we don’t reign in these programs and create new, meaningful and “transparent” oversight – “transparent” acknowledging we’re dealing with necessarily top secret programs.
Community Matters 