Edward Snowden

Written by Joe Lteif

Edward Snowden was a new name for me but when typed on the google search bar, his name was popularly the first that popped up. The face of his was one I had seen in the news for quite some time as welll relating to the NSA scandal that is going on.

Snowden is a former technical contractor for the National Security Agency and an employee for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The scandal in which surrounds this nororious name is in reference to him leaking highly classified United States and  Britain mass survaillence documents to the mass media.

Snowden currently has criminal charges of theft of government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information, and willful communication of classified intelligence to an unauthorized person. Snowden’s leaks are said to rank among the most significant breaches in the history of the NSA wikipedia noted.

The magazine Whistleblower published a quote by Snowden saying ” I cannot allow the U.S government to destroy privacy and basic liberties”.

Snowden is currently being located internationally to face the charges presented to him.

This is very similar to the Pentagon Papers where classified papers about the war were leaked out to the public and the government in turn tried to sue the newspaper who decided to publish it (New York times).

There are various opinions that can be concluded about Snowden. Personally, a person who is trusted with information, no matter how they personally feel about it should remain silent because that is just part of the job. The integrity aspect he does not have. But it can also be said that he is a man who stands up for what he believes in and for this reason took the stand in order to “better the American people”.