National Security Agency and Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden does not deserve to be incarcerated, he is a national patriot. The government has time and time again expressed their lack of releasing information to the American Public. For better or for worse, compartmentalizing critical information violates the citizens constitutional right to unequivocal and undivided freedom of essentially witnessing fundamental indications proposing government ¨under the table¨ operations. In my personal opinion Edward Snowden, put his career and whole conventional day-to-day life on the line to open up our eyes to the reality of existential government ordinances foreign and domestic. To potentially jeopardize your entire life and stable career, exhibits a certain magnitude of commitment to your country. In conclusion no matter which end of the

Data used in the article retrieved from the Washington Times, Snowden has been called more of a traitor instead of the whistle-blower. The author has written different articles before, and is reliable. Information used in the article does seem a little biased towards the author’s personal point of view

After reading the article, "Why Edward Snowden is a Hero," by John Cassidy, it brings a new

Therefore, Snowden’s true intentions are evident by his rash decision to trade significant information to other countries in return for his financial and personal safety. This is not surprising of “A grandiose narcissist,” who saw an opportunity for fame under the excuse of “serving his country” (Toobin 1). Moreover, any educated individual knows that “the entire mission of the agency is to intercept electronic communications” (Toobin 1). Therefore, Snowden can be characterized as a villain because he not only disrupted a legal process because of his ignorance but also sabotaged his own homeland. As can be seen, Snowden is, above all, a traitor; he deserves to be punished for his irresponsible, illegal, and rash action. If his idea was doing what is morally right, then he could have achieved it legally inside his own country, even if it took twice as long. That is what heroes do; they don’t inflict damage on their nation and simply run away from reality. If the

Edward Snowden “is the world’s most famous spy, whistleblower, and fugitive, responsible for the biggest intelligence breach in recent US History” (MacAskill 2013). Snowden leaked documents to journalist that exposed the partners of the United States, it’s spy agencies, and domestic surveillance of citizens out of the country. He leaked the information because he believed the public people should be the voice on whether or not the policies were moral or immoral. Just like Henry Thoreau, Snowden believed that the people should do what they believe is right for themselves and not follow the orders of the government if they believe the laws and policies are unjust.

Edward Snowden was born on June 21, 1983 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. He is known for sharing classified documents about the U.S. government and collecting data illegally from U.S. citizens. He did this by downloading the documents, encrypting them in emails, sending them back and forth to reporters and publishing them. The charges the government are charging him with is stealing government property, distribution of national defense information in which he was not authorized/allowed to do, and sharing the information with people whom weren’t supposed to know it. The reason he was even willing to be charged with these charges is because the government was collecting more information than they really needed such as our phone records,

It has been reported that he was invited to join the NSA’s hacking team known as Tailor Access Operations. Given the fact that he was given access to such classified it can be said that he was a highly skilled employee, however his personal conscious differed from his employer’s goals. One of the main reasons Snowden decided to leak the data that he did, was because he felt that the gross amount of constitutional laws being broken was not acceptable. Though Snowden was correct in that there were many laws being broken, he did in the end break the law himself by disclosing such classified information. Snowden understood his fate would likely be bleak but hoped to make a difference and enlighten the public. In that self-sacrificing view, Edward Snowden is a hero. A hero who is not afraid of the consequences, but who wishes everyone to know to what extent they are being monitored and watched. Edward Snowden sacrificed the freedom he once had, permanently, just to inform citizens of the world what was occurring in their governments. Even though there were many other individuals with similar access, no one ever felt obligated to come forward with this information. Snowden may be a hero but he much more than that, he helped many, hurt others, and informed the

Ultimately, Snowden was trying to protect the American people by notifying them that the NSA was using Verizon to watch their activity. The Federal government should pass stricter laws and organizations to protect the rights of whistle-blowers. The Whistle-Blower Protection Act of 1989 did not help Snowden . A study found that 41 percent of whistle-blowers were fired from their jobs, even after going to the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) for help. Congress should make sure that their organizations and agencies are following protocol and not participating in anything illegal. The government was in the wrong by requesting Verizon to invade the privacy of American civilians14. If a whistle-blower is going to be punished for his or her actions, I think the government should take actions that do not violate the U.S. Constitution. Unlike how the fourteenth amendment was violated in Edward Snowden’s

Edward Snowden was an NSA employee, and disclosed top-secret information about the NSA surveillance of our citizens. He then went to Hong Kong to talk to a journalist about what the NSA was looking at. When he found out the NSA was spying on everyone he saw it to be disturbing. He thought the people should know what was going on with the government how they are listening to citizens and invading their privacy by tapping their phones. The government charged him with the Act of Espionage because of his actions, leaking information on NSA spying on American citizens. Edward Snowden found a place to stay in Russia because the United States government annulled his passport.

Edward Snowden broke all major media outlets in June of 2013. It was a story that portrayed him as traitor to the country for spying on the United States National Security Agency. Edward worked as a technical contractor at the time this was released. Edward was hiding in Hong Kong when the news came out. He planned this trip to keep himself from being instantly detained in the United States. The National Security Agency’s surveillance significantly increased after the 9/11 attacks and have allegedly kept growing since . The surveillance was within guidelines which was up for debate now that the leaks had shown the extent of the surveillance. Other National Security Agency technical contractors had stated that the constitution had been violated,

I think it was ethical for Edward Snowden to reveal the classified information, simply because what the government has been doing was totally wrong. They violated the law and especially the Patriot Act based on the rule of the United States federal court. I understand that when people first heard about this they got very mad, because it was government classified information and he should have followed his job’s responsibility and kept it secret. Some people also started to question if Edward Snowden leaked more information about the army or war secrets, but nobody knows or can confirm that. I think most people would agree that no one is above the law, even the president. I think Edward Snowden is a hero and

For as long as I can remember as a child, I have heard stories about how the government is always listening through devices such as phones, computers, and televisions. However, without any physical evidence, all these claims were merely speculation. On June 5, 2013, Edward Snowden, an NSA contractor who worked for Booz Allen Hamilton, would confirm the long time stories by leaking covert data. Snowden would leak a trove of NSA files which included the NSA's collection of email and telephone data from Verizon, which later was found to be even more broad than just Verizon data. Just a few days later on June, 12, 2013, the South China Morning Post published an interview with Snowden that stated that United States intelligence agents have been

Some of this were from nation that are United State aliies, “These are the countries that organize the peacekeeping and humanitarian missions, combat nuclear proliferation, champion human rights, fight terrorism and human trafficking, and hold free elections”. This shows that Snowden was not going after countries that needed to be spied on, compared to countries like North Korea, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela. Instead, they’ve mostly spilled secrets from our national ranks. This illustrated that he is a traitor because he wanted to look good in front of millions of people to show that the U.S is not as powerful as everyone assumes them to be. He betrayed the trust that the Untied States gave him, and they gave him full clearance but he still did not care because he wanted to show the people the United States is weak. If one person can hurt the U.S and their citizens, that shows that more things will come for their people and the goverment. Snowden is neither “freedom fighter” nor “whistle-blower”. He revealed private information, betrayed govertment trust and than ran to Russia, who is known to be our biggest

Some may call Snowden's actions, brave, but some have another opinion. Former US attorney general, Eric Holder released his opinion through a podcast on may 30th 2016. "We can certainly argue about the way in which Snowden did what he did, but I think that he actually performed a public service by raising the debate we engaged in and by the changes that we made," Holder said. "Now, I would say doing what he did in the way he did it was inappropriate and illegal." Holder said of Snowden. "He's broken the law. In my view, he needs to get lawyers, come on back and decide what he wants to do — go to trial, try to cut a deal." He said that Snowden should face charges, including prison. Not only did Edward Snowden give out the trust of the government, he betrayed them and the safety of people whom this may affect because criminals now know the government can see their every move, through their mobile

Overall, Snowden wanted the public to have a say in government and to have the right to question it. His girlfriend made a big deal out of this on their first date. As stated in class in addition to the movie, the government was founded on this principle that people had the right to overrule the government if they felt like it was unjust. As of now, the people’s say does not have as much impact as it should. He said, “I thought that it was going to be better with Obama, but it is