preview

Edward Snowden Argumentative Essay

Decent Essays

Edward Snowden is a controversial topic to discuss. Some consider him a patriot, while others deem him a traitor. To properly make that choice, one must know the complete backstory and all of the facts. Snowden leaked government secrets to the public. In my opinion, Snowden is not a traitor, I believe we have the right to know that the government is spying on us. On the 21st of June in 1983, Edward Joseph Snowden was born to Lonnie and Elizabeth Snowden. His father, Lonnie, was an officer in the US coastguard so he spent his early childhood in Elizabeth City, North Carolina until his family moved to Maryland. Snowden’s education began to wither during his mid-teens when he got ill and missed about four or five months of class. He did not graduate from high school, and at age 16, started taking classes at …show more content…

It was there that he uncovered how “all-consuming” the NSA was when it came to surveillance. All the protocols that were in place to limit the NSA’s power had failed. In 2012, he left for Hawaii, a whistleblower-in-waiting. Although, it was not until the summer of 2013 that everyone woke up to the ugly truth. Post 9/11, the American government had beefed up their security without compromise but what was being developed and executed in the name of counter-intelligence, was in violation of basic civil rights of her citizens (Sen). He wanted the public to know what was going on, so he released the information through the media. Once the news went live, Snowden was charged with theft of government property and violating the Espionage Act for his unauthorized release of top secret information. A documentary in 2014 called “Citizenfour” captures the event in real time as the story unfolds. It follows those involved and details the event. After the release, he fled to Russia where he was granted temporary asylum after he became stranded there when the US revoked his

Get Access