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NSA Whistle-blower Ed Snowden

The New York Times
June 11, 2013

Hong Kong, a Strange Place to Seek Freedom
By LAW YUK-kai

HONG KONG — Edward J. Snowden, the 29-year-old government contractor who blew the whistle on the American government’s vast data-collection efforts, was last seen checking out of a boutique hotel here on Monday. The previous day, he released a video defending his decision to leak sensitive secrets and explaining that he’d sought refuge in Hong Kong because it “has a strong tradition of free speech” and “a long tradition of protesting in the streets.”

This news stunned many local residents, especially those of us who advocate for human rights. Since 1997, when the British government returned Hong Kong to China after getting assurances that this former colony’s traditions of rule of law and individual freedom would be respected, the political, legal and human rights landscape here has become ever less conducive to the protection of civil liberties. Mr. Snowden — if he is still in town — has stepped into an unknown future in which the concept of “one nation, two systems,” promised us by Beijing, has become a fading memory.

Whether it was youthful naïveté or just ignorance, Mr. Snowden’s positive view of Hong Kong no longer matches the reality. Shortly before his arrival, the international organization Freedom House ranked Hong Kong 71st in the world in protection of political rights and civil liberties. Reporters Without Borders has dropped Hong Kong on its ranking of press freedom to No. 58, from No. 18 in 2002.


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/12/opinion/hong-kong-a-strange-place-to-seek-freedom.html?hp&_r=0&pagewanted=print

 
Whether it was youthful naïveté or just ignorance,

Or, he could be working for the Chinese...

I saw a couple variations of that theory floated around the other day
 
Claims that Russia might be interested in granting him asylum. 

Now Russia set to offer whistleblower asylum: Putin 'considers' giving Edward Snowden refuge as NSA leaker vanishes in Hong Kong
Edward Snowden, a former CIA technical assistant fled to Hong Kong
Leaked details of Prism, which he says harvests personal data from web
U.S. National Intelligence director says surveillance keeps America safe
Names Iceland as his destination of choice due to internet freedom

Russian MP Robert Schlegel urged the Kremlin to look at a the possibility
News has increased pressure on President Barack Obama to act swiftly
House Speaker John Boehner called him a 'traitor' who put Americans at risk

By Ian Drury and Jill Reilly
PUBLISHED: 02:38 GMT, 11 June 2013 | UPDATED: 12:05 GMT, 11 June 2013

Russia today hinted that Vladimir Putin would grant political asylum to Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower who leaked the secret information about a classified U.S. government surveillance program.

'We will take action based on what actually happens. If we receive such a request, it will be considered,' said the Russian president's official spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

The former CIA undercover operative is on the run after checking out of his luxury Hong Kong hotel on Sunday - his whereabouts is unknown.

The news that Putin is considering offering the 29-year-old refuge has increased pressure on President Barack Obama to act swiftly.

The president is facing an increasing domestic and international backlash as his administration struggles to contain the explosive revelations.  He will come face to face with Putin at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland next week.

This morning House Speaker John Boehner called Snowden a 'traitor' who put Americans at risk by releasing classified information to the media.
Boehner had initially called on Obama to explain to the program to the American people, but today he told ABC News, the two program's were critical to the government’s ability to fight terrorism and claimed there are 'clear safeguards' built into the programs to protect citizens.

Today one Russian report stressed that the country has a consulate in Hong Kong where Snowden could make an asylum request.

The Russian angle contrasts with its total refusal to act on Western hints that it could help solve the Syrian crisis by granting asylum to its long-time ally President Bashar al-Assad and his family.

Snowden is a technology expert working for a private firm subcontracted to  the US National Security Agency.
Last week he told the Guardian newspaper of a mammoth surveillance operation run by the NSA on telephone and Internet records around the world.
In the US he has been branded a traitor and there is pressure for his extradition from Hong Kong.

Russian MP Robert Schlegel urged the Kremlin to look at a the possibility of granting political asylum to Snowden.

'It would be a good idea,' he said.  It's unknown where he will actually go, but Snowden had mentioned Iceland, a tiny island nation of 360,000, as a possibility.
It seems more likely that he would actually flee to the Islandic consulate in Hong Kong, rather than risking boarding a plane to fly there in person.

However, powerful members of Congress are already demanding that Snowden be extradited and tried in an American court for revealing the existence of the PRISM program, which collects data from untold tens of millions of Americans, including their cell phone use.

It remains to be seen whether the Icelandic government would be willing - or even able - to stand up to pressure from the United States if American authorities demanded his extradition.

Iceland's government of newly-elected conservative Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, may not be so generous to Snowden. While still untested, it is widely seen as closer to Washington than past administrations and less keen to foster the island country's cyber-haven image.

Snowden has yet to make a formal application for asylum and would have to go to Iceland to make the request, said Kristin Volundarsdottir, head of Iceland's Directorate of Immigration. Gunnlaugsson's government did not otherwise comment on the case.

'I would be very surprised if they (the government) would be eager to engage in any international disputes with the U.S. And it is pretty difficult to be granted asylum here,' said Stefania Oskarsdottir, lecturer in political science at the University of Iceland.

'I think what this guy is saying is based on something he is imagining or hoping for rather than actual facts.'

As a U.S. citizen, Snowden would not need a visa to enter Iceland, or its embassy, and could immediately apply for asylum.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2339329/Russia-hints-Putin-grant-political-asylum-whistleblower-Edward-Snowden-NSA-leaker-vanishes-Hong-Kong.html#ixzz2VwCVGlyM
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
 
I'm sure they'd just love to sit him down for a nice, long chat!  :sarcasm:
 
Hong Kong has a great airport and China is one subway stop away.  Direct flights to almost any destination. I doubt he is still in Hong Kong. I certainly wouldn't be. Ecuador would be my first choice.

If he wanted to cash in China or Russia would have paid him handsomely and not blown his cover. Obviously he is a conscientious objector.
 
I seem to recall earlier versions of this were leaked to the press. In the 1980's there was a lot of speculation about a system supposedly called "Echelon", and in the 1990's another one quaintly called "Carnivore".

Like many people I am appaled at the apparently vast and all encompassing nature of the program(s). This is just warentless wiretapping and trolling taken to the logical extreme. If there are reasons to suspect a person or organization, then lay out the facts to a judge and get a warrant. If it is a military operation, then the chain of command needs to be able to explain the who, what, where, when and why, if only to assure itself it isn't wasting time and resources.

As for the idea that this sort of information won't be politicized and innocents will not be caught in the net, I suggest you look to the case of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, arrested for the video that allegedly sparked the Benghazi attacks and still in jail despite abundant evidence that his video had nothing to do with the incident.
 
Nemo888 said:
Obviously he is a conscientious objector.

He joined the US army as a volunteer in a program that directly leads to the Special Forces. No idea where your getting conscientious objector from.
 
Thucydides said:
As for the idea that this sort of information won't be politicized and innocents will not be caught in the net, I suggest you look to the case of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, arrested for the video that allegedly sparked the Benghazi attacks and still in jail despite abundant evidence that his video had nothing to do with the incident.

Nakoula was actually arrested for violating the terms of his probation in a 2010 bank fraud conviction.

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/nakoula-basseley-nakoula-sentenced-to-a-year-in-jail-for-probation-violations/

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The California man behind an anti-Muslim film that led to violence in many parts of the Middle East was sentenced Wednesday to a year in federal prison for probation violations in an unrelated matter, then issued a provocative statement through his attorney.
The sentence was the result of a plea bargain between lawyers for Mark Bassely Youssef and federal prosecutors. Youssef admitted in open court that he had used several false names in violation of his probation order and obtained a driver’s license under a false name. He was on probation for a bank fraud case.
 
Now scroll back in time to the day of the actual arrest and the following few days and you will see nary a mention of parole violation. His arrest and incarceration (without due process) was and is purely political theater to deflect attention away from the real (and still largely unanswered) issues surrounding the events in Benghazi.
 
Thucydides said:
Now scroll back in time to the day of the actual arrest and the following few days and you will see nary a mention of parole violation. His arrest and incarceration (without due process) was and is purely political theater to deflect attention away from the real (and still largely unanswered) issues surrounding the events in Benghazi.

I never would have taken you for a purchaser of large quantities of tin foil. ;D
 
Personally I find the whole shorts-in-a-knot reaction that has spun up over this to be surprising.

Snowden hasn't revealed anything that wasn't already previously known. Vacuuming of phone data was first revealed in 2006 under the Bush watch.

http://yahoo.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa_x.htm

The information about PRISM having access to various Tech company servers, the only real surprise is that it hadn't come out sooner.

There is a debate within the Security Punditry as to how much damage has really been done though this series of leaks.

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/national-security-leaks-fallout-92554.html?hp=l13

Intelligence experts and former officials interviewed by POLITICO say there will likely be some harm to U.S. intelligence efforts — though not in exactly the way many Americans might expect and not because the stories really revealed the crown jewels of American counter-terrorism efforts.

And the surest negative impact of the disclosures is more likely to fall on the U.S. Internet industry, as some of its international customer base flees in search of sites thought to be more secure from American government snooping.

Former officials say it’s not so much the specifics of what was leaked as the huge wave of publicity the leaks generated: Every news story could serve as a revelation to some terrorists, and a reminder to others, of the nation’s capabilities.

The week’s second big disclosure, that the feds have installed equipment at major U.S. email and social media firms to provide a feed of Web traffic from overseas, is also something less than a sky-is-falling revelation. In 2008, the Senate debated and passed Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act amendments that specifically authorized collection of information from foreign customers logging in from outside the United States — even those who had no suspected connection to terrorism.

The authority wasn’t slipped into the law unnoticed. In fact, some liberal House members, including then-House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.), introduced a bill in 2009 to essentially do away with bulk collection from foreign sources unless there was a specific suspicion about terrorism. The measure went nowhere.

And in 2010, a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union produced hundreds of pages of materials on the bulk collection provision known as Section 702. The documents, posted on the Web, say the FBI now has access to “a faster, less labor-intensive process involving fewer personnel.”

“User need not be a foreign power or agent of foreign power,” the FBI records say. “Without the need for individualized [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court] orders … significantly less documentation … no probable cause required.”

ACLU lawyer Alex Abdo said the recent leak about Section 702 was more upsetting than unexpected. “It is consistent with what we thought the government was doing,” he said. “Last week’s disclosure confirmed for us the government is engaging in the surveillance we most feared. Now, we know the mechanism for the surveillance, but the concern we have is just the same.”

Some say last week’s leak broke new ground with the description of a real-time or near real-time access to Internet firms’ data through a system known as PRISM. But the system and even its logo seem an awful lot like the “fiberoptic splitter” a whistleblowing AT&T employee described in a 2006 lawsuit as having been installed by the NSA at an AT&T switching station in San Francisco.

Unlike a leak to The Associated Press last year, which may have led to the termination of a U.S.-backed counterterrorism operation in Yemen, or a leak in 2009 to Fox News’s James Rosen, which may have put a human source inside North Korea in danger, there’s every indication the call-tracking program and the interception of foreign users of U.S. Web firms is going to continue.

They may well be less effective — but to what degree isn’t yet known and is probably unknowable to any significant degree of certainty.

The most certain impact of disclosures may be a loss of business for U.S. Internet and social media firms. One of the PowerPoint pages disclosed by The Guardian lists services such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail and Skype. Privacy-sensitive users in places like Europe may try to find other providers. That could strengthen those foreign businesses and lead to more Web content being harder for U.S. intelligence to reach or even winding up beyond its reach.

“We just punished American businesses who are just obeying U.S. law,” Hayden said.

However, Brenner said if terrorists decide not to communicate via the Internet or phones, that could carry some benefits by impeding their operations.

“If you’re able to drive your opponents completely off the network, you’ve lost something because they are are harder to track,” he said. “On the other hand, you’ve made them resort to very ineffective, old-fashioned forms of communication.”
 
George Wallace said:
Will we see a rush on aluminum products soon?

What about tinfoil bras (and other articles of clothing) for Snowden's pole-dancing girlfriend?  >:D

link

NSA whistle-blower’s girlfriend feels ‘adrift’

lindsay-mills-ballerina.jpg


Lindsay Mills, the woman reported to be the girlfriend of purported National Security Agency whistle-blower Edward Snowden, says she feels adrift without her 29-year-old boyfriend, whom she says abandoned her in Hawaii and fled to Hong Kong.

"My world has opened and closed all at once. Leaving me lost at sea without a compass," Mills, a 28-year-old professional pole dancer, wrote on her blog, "L's Journey," on Monday. The blog post was written a day after Snowden, a former technical assistant for the CIA and ex-employee of defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, was identified by the Guardian on Sunday as the source of its stories revealing the NSA's controversial telephone and Internet surveillance programs.

"As I type this on my tear-streaked keyboard I’m reflecting on all the faces that have graced my path," Mills continued. "The ones I laughed with. The ones I’ve held. The one I’ve grown to love the most. And the ones I never got to bid adieu. But sometimes life doesn’t afford proper goodbyes."

According to the Daily Mail, Mills and Snowden had been together since at least 2009.

"Surely there will be villainous pirates, distracting mermaids, and tides of change in this new open water chapter of my journey," Mills—who refers to Snowden as "E" and herself as a "world-traveling, pole-dancing super hero"—added. "But at the moment all I can feel is alone."

Snowden, who was interviewed by the U.K. newspaper in his hotel room in Hong Kong where he was hiding at the time, said he has no regrets about going public—even if he never sees his family again.

"I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things," Snowden said. "I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under. ... I can't in good conscience allow the U.S. government to destroy privacy, Internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building."

Snowden said he decided to leave his family, girlfriend and a six-figure-a-year salary behind, and flew to Hong Kong on May 20.

On June 3, Mills wrote:

The past few weeks have been a cluster jumble of fun, disaster, and adventure. From pop-up homes to last-minute unplanned adventure to stressful moments that would give Gandhi indigestion. While I have been patiently asking the universe for a livelier schedule, I’m not sure I meant for it to dump half a year’s worth of experience in my lap in two weeks time. We’re talking biblical stuff — floods, deceit, loss. Somehow I’ve only managed a few tears amongst all of the madness of May. Waking up to June with hopes for a better swing of luck, only to find that I’ve lost my camera’s memory card that stored 90% of my trip’s memories. I feel alone, lost, overwhelmed, and desperate for a reprieve from the bipolar nature of my current situation. My coping response of the past was to [flee] to foreign lands. Trying to outrun my misfortune. But before I can sail away to lands unknown I need to wipe my misguided tears and reflect on all that is happening. Listen to my core. Find zen or something like it. And breathe into what little patience I have left.

The newspaper said it revealed Snowden's identity at his request. Booz Allen said it fired Snowden on Monday for "violations of the firm’s code of ethics."

"All my options are bad," Snowden told the Guardian. "I could be rendered by the CIA. I could have people come after me. Or any of the third-party partners.

"My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them," he added. "The only thing I can do is sit here and hope the Hong Kong government does not deport me. ... My predisposition is to seek asylum in a country with shared values. The nation that most encompasses this is Iceland. They stood up for people over Internet freedom. I have no idea what my future is going to be."

A petition urging the Obama administration to pardon Snowden was posted to the White House website on Sunday afternoon.

"Edward Snowden is a national hero and should be immediately issued a full, free, and absolute pardon for any crimes he has committed or may have committed related to blowing the whistle on secret NSA surveillance programs," the petition read.
 
Nemo888 said:
Hong Kong has a great airport and China is one subway stop away.  Direct flights to almost any destination. I doubt he is still in Hong Kong. I certainly wouldn't be. Ecuador would be my first choice.

If he wanted to cash in China or Russia would have paid him handsomely and not blown his cover. Obviously he is a conscientious objector.

No such animal where classified information is concerned.Its a felony to release classified information to anyone not authorized to have it.I have seen military personnel given  non-judicial punishment who lost classified documents.Giving it to the media could result in prison time.
 
Mr. Snowden speaks, again, in this article which is reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act from the South China Morning Post:

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1259490/washington-bullying-hong-kong-extradite-me-says-edward-snowden
Washington is bullying Hong Kong to extradite me, says Edward Snowden
America is desperate to prevent me leaking further information, whistle-blower says

Lana Lam

Thursday, 13 June, 2013 (It's already tomorrow in HK)

The US has been “trying to bully” Hong Kong’s government into extraditing surveillance whistle-blower Edward Snowden, he told the Post in an exclusive interview.

Hong Kong justice officials have so far declined to comment on any official or unofficial approaches they may have from their US counterparts, but the former CIA contractor warned that America was desperate to prevent him leaking further sensitive information.

He said: “I heard today from a reliable source that the United States government is trying to bully the Hong Kong government into extraditing me before the local government can learn of this [the US National Security Agency hacking people in Hong Kong]. The US government will do anything to prevent me from getting this into the public eye, which is why they are pushing so hard for extradition.”

So far, Hong Kong’s government has failed to make any statement regarding Snowden’s presence in the city since May 20 or where it stands on the issues of asylum and extradition.

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has remained tight-lipped on the matter in what has turned out to be an awkward trip to the United States to promote trade relations. He refused to respond to media questions about the case when he attended a plenary meeting hosted by the Hong Kong-US Business Council in New York yesterday.

Earlier in the week he met New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to talk about the challenges facing both their cities, but again, no mention of the Snowden affair was made. The meeting had been rescheduled in the immediate aftermath of Snowden revealing himself as the source of the leaks.

Before a dinner in his honour hosted by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council on Tuesday, Leung, who flies home today, was asked six questions by reporters about Snowden. “I have no comment on individual cases,” he said.

Asked whether he had discussed the issue with US officials and whether US officials had sought assistance from the Hong Kong government, Leung again said he could not comment.

Asked about how extraditions to friendly countries were handled, he said: “In general, we follow the laws and our policies.”

The leaks have set off a furore in the US with President Barack Obama defending the programme as vital to keeping Americans safe. The director of National Intelligence James Clapper said it gathers data trails left by targeted foreign

citizens using the internet outside the US.

The chief of the NSA, General Keith Alexander, was yesterday set to testify on the issue before a US Senate committee.

Additional reporting by Gary Cheung in New York


There are dueling legal opinions out there about how easy or hard it will be to extradite Mr Snowden.
 
S.M.A. said:
What about tinfoil bras (and other articles of clothing) for Snowden's pole-dancing girlfriend?  >:D

link

I can't believe I just read that. :facepalm:
 
S.M.A. said:

Someone's going to get a visit from the NSA. ;D

Seems line Snowden may be speaking out of another orifice (as if we didn't know that already)

Experts Doubt NSA Leaker's Claim About Wiretaps

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/06/12/190928454/experts-doubt-nsa-leakers-claim-about-wiretaps?utm_source=NPR&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20130612

Edward Snowden's claim that as systems administrator for a defense contractor in Hawaii he had the authority "to wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant to a federal judge to even the president," just isn't plausible, says a former national security lawyer at the Justice Department and Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

On Morning Edition, NPR's Steve Henn zeroed in on some of the things that Snowden, who has come forward to claim he's behind the recent explosive leaks about surveillance programs run by the National Security Agency, has been heard saying in interviews with The Guardian.

Carrie Cordero, the former Justice and DNI lawyer, is now director of national securities studies at Georgetown University Law Center. She tells Steve that "the notion that this individual has the authority to go ahead and ... 'wiretap' people is just ridiculous."

Without discussing the details of how such surveillance programs work and the safeguards that are in place to protect privacy, Cordero says Snowden's claim "does not resemble anything close to what I observed within the intelligence community."

Might he have had the ability to wiretap individuals, if not the authority? Susan Freiwald, a cyber law and privacy expert at the University of San Francisco School of Law, notes that the NSA appears to be collecting huge amounts of "metadata" from communications companies — basically, master files of which numbers are connecting to each other. But Steve says that "for an analyst sitting in Hawaii to initiate a wiretap on anyone anywhere he or she would need much, much more" — perhaps most notably, the ability to "monitor new calls, emails and chats in real time."

The communications and Internet companies, Steve adds, "have said in no uncertain terms that they are not granting the NSA unfettered access to their servers — or turning over data on the scale necessary to make a system like this work."

"I think it's quite likely they are telling the truth," Freiwald says.
 
cupper said:
Experts Doubt NSA Leaker's Claim About Wiretaps

Carrie Cordero, the former Justice and DNI lawyer, is now . She tells Steve that "the notion that this individual has the authority to go ahead and ... 'wiretap' people is just ridiculous."

Technically you would need a FISA warrant to actively wiretap. Though a FISA a warrant has never been refused it is technically possible. Ironically murdering Awlaki(an American citizen) needed no judicial oversight, but wiretapping him did. But surfing the server farm of all your internet usage and phone calls since high school wouldn't really be wiretapping. It's the entire digital footprint of the planet. This is actually the most amazing historical record in human history. If we do get rid of it I hope we put that trove in a time capsule. I would name it one of the 7 Wonders of the modern world.
 
It's a case of semantics. His claim of authority vs ability. And even that (his ability) is in dispute.
 
Nemo888 said:
That the article does not even speak to the issues he gave up his life for is very telling. It is pure ad hominem.

Some of the comments to the article are good.

This column reads like a genteel rewrite of Nixon's Enemies List. It spans the spectrum of the thin-skinned paranoia which the powerful exhibit whenever their predatory little worlds are exposed. To wit:

--Blame the messenger instead of the malefactors (Snowden magically destroys privacy by reporting on the destruction of privacy!) -- check.

-- Speculate about the messenger's psychological state ( Watergate Rule #26, inspired by the Nixon Plumbers break-in of the office of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist ) -- check.

-- Denigrate the messenger's lowly educational background and social status. Point out the faux pas of servants who betray their masters, who of course are not corporate welfare capitalist spies, but rather philanthropic humanitarian aid organizations.-- check.

-- Question the messenger's patriotism and loyalty to friends and family. -- check. (These whistleblowers are always terrible sons, boyfriends and dressers - see Assange, Julian ; Bill Keller edition)

Edward Snowden deserves a medal not only for upsetting the security state apple cart, but for getting David Brooks so tied up in knots that his bromides and his platitudes are congealing into a bigger mess than usual.

Snowden is guilty of the high crime of giving aid and comfort to the citizenry. He is a traitor to Brook's class.

Nemo888,

While an interesting debate as to motives and responsibilities, with an opinion like that I hope you don't have a security clearance. 

I would assume he has sworn an oath to his nation.  This is not how one should deal with issues of National Security and Policy when it does not agree with matters of personal conscience/morals in the realm of national security.  Presidents and National Security Advisors get paid to make these types of decisions.  The nation gets to elect the President.  (my bold and italics in the quote)
 
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