Moral Agency : The American People And The Leaders Of The World

After September 11th, Americans looked to the government for protection and reassurance. However, they did not expect to find out thirteen years later that the government did this by using technology to spy on Americans, as well as other countries. George W. Bush began the policy shortly after the terrorist attack and Barack Obama continued it. There have been many confrontations over the years about the extent of the N.S.A.’s spying; however, the most recent whistle-blower, Edward Snowden, leaked information that caused much upset throughout America (EFF). It has also brought many people to question: is he a hero or a traitor?

Edward Snowden isn’t the only person who believes what the U.S. had done was wrong, but also many American leaders, and other nations around the world. The United States had not only been collecting data on their own citizens, but also of other countries leaders and citizens. The release of these documents had strained political relationships between the U.S. and other allied nations. The knowledge and truth other leaders and nations had gained

Edward Snowden. This is a name that will be in the history books for ages. He will be branded a traitor or a whistleblower depending on where you look. Many Americans feel that Edward Snowden is a traitor who sold the United States’ secrets aiming to harm the nation. Others believe that he was simply a citizen of the United States who exercised his right to expose the government for their unconstitutional actions. It is important to not only know the two sides to the argument of friend or foe, but to also know the facts as well. My goal in this paper is to present the facts without bias and to adequately portray the two sides of the argument.

Another issue in this case is the “theft” that Snowden partook in. Theft is the “act of stealing; the wrongful taking and carrying away of the personal goods or property of another; larceny” ("Theft | Define Theft at Dictionary.com." xx). This aspect of the case is important because Snowden’s actions reject the cultural norms of what is expected of individuals in respect to the term. These expectations within our culture is for individuals to not commit acts of theft.

I am not too familiar with Snowden, besides the headlines he made a few years back, which state that he released information about the NSA domestic surveillance activities. I don’t think he is a traitor to the country, because he released the truth, that we are being monitored.

Growing up, Snowden’s principles were deeply influenced by his father. An active member of the U.S. military through his work in the Coast Guard, he was trained to dutifully uphold the Constitution, and instilled this same ideal in his son (Harding, 2014).

Snowden is now seen as either a traitor or a hero by many. As a result of what snowden did, some persons see his actions as being unethical because of the fact that he may have violated a secrecy agreement but it can also show that the law was unjust and unconstitutional. In addition, the Attorney General of the United States, Eric Holder, also did not find Edward’s rationale to be very convincing. He stated, “He broke the law. He caused harm to our national security and I think that he has to be held accountable for his actions.”

The article “Why Edward Snowden is a hero written” by John Cassidy gives more insight on the motives and thoughts on his reveal about the N.S.A. and its mission and responsibilities as a part of the government. Though Edward snowden was looked upon as either a hero or villain due to his actions of informing the citizens of the United states about the N.S.A. and their abilities to tap into anyone’s security, passcodes, and such, he was not constitutionally violating any law. The constitution and privacy laws clearly states that we citizens as individuals have the right to privacy. This alludes to the idea that citizen’s personal information is to be kept safe and protected from the public. Edward Snowden had acted on behalf of the United States citizens and believed the best

Edward Snowden worked for the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency before leaking top secret information. There are many people that support Edward Snowden’s actions, but there are others that see him as a threat. Both sides have valid opinions, but to make a clear decision, one would have to evaluate his intentions, actions, and impact. What were Edward Snowden’s intentions?

Critics of Edward Snowden label him a traitor and a coward. They condemn him for irreparably harming government security operations and setting of a worldwide chain of events that weakened the American position on the world stage. While America now has blight on its records due to the leaks, the topic that should be addressed is should the whistle-blower, the man who uncovered and exposed the questionable and wrong activities, be blamed or should those who allowed the illegal and immoral activities be held accountable for what they started. Edward Snowden had the justification and conviction to do the correct thing and present the incriminating evidence straight to the public. When one takes in consideration everything that Snowden has lost because of his decision, there was little gain for him to make the immoral activities public. Snowden’s crime is breaching the trust of his government contract to expose egregious monitoring by the government on the American public. In an interview conducted by the Washington Post, Snowden speaks out about his goal in releasing the files: “All I wanted was for the public to be able to have a say in how they are governed,”

Snowden is a computer professional, and formerly a part of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Being physically violent towards your government is not the only way to way to hurt, or damage your government. Snowden is a rebel, because he hurt the United States government through technology. Snowden leaked classified information, and revealed numerous global surveillance programs. This knowledge was kept secret from the public, and damaged the United State’s intelligence effectiveness. Snowden was wanted for espionage against the United States. Snowden fled to Russia, and is currently living there in an undisclosed location. What drove Snowden to cause release this information? Snowden believed he was a hero , and shed light on practices he believed were unconstitutional, “The N.S.A. has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting. If I wanted to see your emails or your wife’s phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your emails, passwords, phone records, credit cards”. Even though, government officials view Snowden as a

While working for the NSA, Snowden became aware of their extensive trespasses against the privacy of U.S. and international citizens alike. Upon considering the extent of these trespasses, Snowden felt that it was his moral duty, as he stated, “to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them”. His provided information showed the use of Internet surveillance programs, and the evaluation of phone records in the form of “metadata”. Many argue that Snowden’s leaking of information has hindered our government’s ability to intercept terrorist plots, by informing the world of the NSA’s capabilities, and therefore allowing terrorist groups to plot attacks beyond the reach of U.S. surveillance. In light of this, Snowden’s leak has indeed made us more vulnerable to terrorist attacks, but does this justify the NSA’s chosen use of power? Since Snowden’s revelations, it has become evident that the NSA consistently uses their surveillance abilities to unjustified ends. One function of the NSA’s electronic data analysis is to find targets for the military’s Joint Special Operations Command to strike with lethal drone attacks. Many innocent civilians in middle-eastern countries have lost their lives as a result of this military sect’s reliance on the NSA’s data, rather than human correspondence. According to an anonymous former drone-operator, the victims of these attacks “might have been terrorists, or they could have been

I recently saw a movie called CitizenFour which was based on one of the biggest cases of whistle blowing in US history. This whistle blower went by the name Edward Snowden. Snowden worked for the NSA so he had a lot of information that involved the NSA doing "bad" things like tapping into our phone calls, and stuff that had to do with violating our privacy. So what Snowden wanted to do was leak all this information. But he didn't want to keep the info for himself. So he gave the info to the media. So they can release it to the public but at the same time not put anyone in danger like a spy for example. But the New York Time leaked something that wasn't properly blacked out and that caused a big problem. Snowden was charged with a crime that dated back to world war one. I think that what Snowden did wasn't very smart. In the sense that he gave the information to the media. As I watched the movie I asked myself why would he do this. Anyone can take a bribe and that information can go into the wrong hands. SO I think him doing this was a miss call on his part. But again i think that he did this because he didn't want to have all that power in his hand. Maybe he thought that he would be the one to eventually sell this info for his own well-being. I

The fact Snowden chose to leak only information he and his media connections felt would not be detrimental to the public or government, yet would provide enough information that the public as to start an open debate on “big brother” oversight and privacy laws, shows that Snowden was in good faith and conscious leaking information for good and not for personal gains.

Edward Snowden is a United States citizen and former employee of the National Security Agency (NSA). Snowden leaked information about the NSA to the media in 2013 and is now in Russia where he was recently granted three years of asylum. The NSA uses cryptology and others forms of information gathering to enable various networks to make advantageous decisions for the Nation and our allies under all circumstances. The NSA operates undetected by civilians, and uses global monitoring so broadly defined that it has allowed for unscrupulous behavior that was witnessed by contracted employee, Edward Snowden. Snowden believed that as the public gained knowledge of the illegal intelligence gathering by the government of domestic citizens, and abroad, he would gain protection from the public. Snowden did receive protection from people including powerful lawyers, journalists, and privacy advocates. Analysis of the Edward Snowden case