Edward Snowden leaked over a million classified documents from the NSA to media personnel. He had access to these documents because he was a contractor for the CIA through the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. He has sought refuge in Russia, and is hoping to gain a presidential pardon for his actions because he believes “that the disclosure of the scale of surveillance by US and British intelligence agencies was not only morally right but had left citizens better off.” In my opinion, he should not be pardoned. Edward Snowden was incredibly careless and selfish in the release of these documents and did not fully think through the implications to his actions. There are probably much better ways for him to make his point.
I understand his want to make us aware of the internal privacy rights that he felt were being violated. Unfortunately however, I think he hurt his own case with his execution. He was trying to let Americans know the extent that government agencies were encroaching on our privacy. However, as The Washington Post Article “Edward Snowden’s impact” states, the amount of information he provided was overwhelming in that it did not give people the chance to react “appropriately” (react how Snowden wanted). Although there were a few things reformed due to the information leak and people’s anger, I do not think it had the overall impact that Snowden wanted. Also, it was reported that Snowden did not even read all the documents that he leaked before releasing them. Because the NSA deals with such sensitive data, it seems very irresponsible to release documents from the NSA without first making sure you are not releasing very private information about individuals. Snowden is trying to argue that the NSA should not be collecting this data and we should have more privacy, so imagine if Snowden accidentally released some of this very private data about American citizens to the media. That would be accomplishing the exact opposite of the cause Snowden is fighting for.
Also, Snowden released many reports of foreign affairs. This is incredibly irresponsible because if the rest of the world did not already hate America, they sure do now. I was not surprised at all by the reports about domestic privacy issues. The National Security Agency is trying to insure security, and I am not surprised at all by their level of surveillance. Whether it is right or not, I am not surprised. However the information regarding foreign security breaches are very specific and in some cases a little surprising. However, this only infuriates other countries more, and could potentially lead to some sort of war. Countries spy on each other. I think this is something people know, but releasing official documentation confirming exactly who they are spying on and how is a great way to make even more enemies than we already have and to really screw over your own country. I would not be surprised if all the countries we have documentation of spying on are spying on us as well, but actually putting that information out there, and letting them know exactly what we are doing is a huge threat to our nations security, and makes me feel even more unsafe. Snowden’s irresponsible release of this information makes me scared for my safety, and not because the US government is spying on me, but because now other countries know.
Personally, I feel a lot safer knowing that the government is actively searching for terrorism. I would rather someone sitting in an NSA office listen to me tell my mom about my day and what I ate for lunch than be attacked by a domestic terrorist that could have been be stopped. I also feel a lot safer knowing that other countries do not know the extent to which our government spies. But unfortunately, we now live in a world where other countries can hate my country because they know exactly how they are spying on them, even though I am sure those countries are spying on the USA too. There are tradeoffs to safety that I accept.