The Case Of Whistleblower Edward Snowden

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.

It basically states that the FBI can obtain secret warrants to go through someone’s business files such as “driver’s license records, hotel records, car-rental records, apartment- leasing history and more”. It also says that the person is not allowed to tell anyone that one of these secret searches has been conducted (Carafano). Something else to note about this section is that the rate in which this is used is increasing. In 2009 it was used 21 to 96 orders in 2010. This is an increase of over 400% according to a report from the Washington Post and they also reported that 80% of these requests were to look at internet records. Another shocking piece of the Act is the National Security Letters. What this is, is the FBI can issue these NSLs and will be given access to someone’s phone records and bank account without getting a court order. A complete violation of the fourth amendment again. In 2000 there were 8,500 uses of these letters but from 2003-2006 there was 196,000 letters and that only lead to one terror conviction according to eff.org. These numbers are staggering because that means the government used most of these letters to look at innocent people’s personal

This act makes a significant amount of amendments to the FISA act one of which is Title II which is titled “Enhanced Surveillance Procedures.” While the FISA act targeted only non-US citizens for “foreign intelligence information”, this act allows the collection of foreign intelligence information from US citizens as well. One section which raises a brow is section 215 of the Patriot Act which grants the FBI permission to ask the FISA court to “compel the sharing of books, business documents, tax records, library check-out-lists,” and pretty much any tangible thing, “as part of a foreign intelligence or international terrorism investigation.” Upon further reading of this section it becomes evident fairly quickly that these “required” materials can include purely domestic records. Of course, if one has nothing to hide then one need to fear this act since it is geared towards non-US and US citizens suspected of being affiliated with a foreign power; but later acts seem to notion that perhaps the United States government is not only concerned with terrorist groups but rather all information of its citizens and residents which can build patterned profiles.

“Even if you’re not doing anything wrong, you’re being watched and recorded,” said former NSA information technology contractor, Edward Snowden, as quoted in an article by CNN political reporter, Jeremy Diamond. Despite his low position in the National Security Agency, Snowden caught the world’s eye in 2013 when he leaked documents revealing the NSA and FISC’s plans for mass domestic surveillance in the United States. His decision to reveal classified documents sent the nation into widespread outrage. The NSA had access to not only metadata (records of activity), but also content containing personal information that Americans rightfully assumed was protected by laws such as the Stored Communications Act (SCA) and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments Act

Many people have always wondered what the word ethics mean. To me ethics is the feeling of right and wrong. Many people have their own way of defining ethics and but this is what ethics mean to me. Ethics to other people might mean following the laws and some may say ethics is determined by what society is believed is right and wrong. For example Edward Snowden, a 30 year old man was born in North Carolina in 1983 (Edward snowden.biography, 2013, para. 1). Edward Snowden was a security guard that worked for the National Security Agency (NSA), after three months Edward Snowden started to collect NSA files and fled to Hong Kong and leaked the files. China started to print out report of the files that Edward Snowden has leaked to China

One of its most controversial provisions is Section 215, which allows Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents to request "certain business records" after obtaining a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) court. The FISA court proceedings are secret and its decisions are not subject to appeal. Although libraries and bookstores are not specifically mentioned by the USA PATRIOT Act, many legal experts agree that the section's language allows the FBI to request records from public and university libraries and bookstores. While the language of Section 215 is vague, many privacy and civil liberties advocates claim that authorities may obtain records about who has been borrowing or buying which books or using which Internet

First of all, in the contents of this debate, we support that Snowden’s actions were necessary. We understand that there must be a balance between privacy and national security. However, the NSA and government were overstepping their mandate to protect American citizens. Checks and balances in intelligence agencies deteriorated, resulting in secrecy, abuse of power, and stretched interpretations of 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

To wrap it all up Edward Snowden is a traitor. He has violated the trust the CIA, NSA, and his bosses had in him to keep this information a secret. This means he has put us citizens in danger. Some might think that his spreading of this information is heroic. However, now that this information has been released there is a greater possibility that it could fall into the wrong hands and families would be put in danger of terrorist attacks. Now he is on the run and the U.S. government must catch him before he and the information he leaked are captured by terrorists and America’s

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,”

In early 2013 a man by the name of Edward Joseph Snowden began leaking classified National Security Agency (NSA) documents to media outlets, which in turn ended up in public ears. These documents, mainly involving intelligence Snowden acquired while working as an NSA contractor, are mostly related to global surveillance programs run by the NSA. This has raised multiple ethical issues ranging from national security, information privacy and the ethics behind whistleblowing in general. The reach and impact of these leaks have gone global and have put in question the very government that protects us as well as the extent of the public’s rights on privacy. Various foreign

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