Monday, June 10, 2013

Is NSA leaker a traitor or a hero?

I you watched cable news yesterday you could see that White House and most of congressional leadership want to treat NSA leaker a traitor. There are already calls for prosecution and swift punishment, including having him 'disappeared'.

However if you think about it you have to seriously ask, why? Nobody died because of this leak. While it could be shown that President Obama's leaks about Navy Seals Team Six involvement in raid on Bin Laden may have contributed to missile attack on their helicopter and deaths of many Seals.

I will argue that NSA leaker, Edward Snowden, should be treated as a whistle-blower. First, his disclosure did not endangered anybody.  He did however unmasked practices that are not just unconstitutional but also criminal. It also showed that quite a few people did lie to Congress (just as IRS officials) about spying on US citizens. Will those people face any criminal prosecution? I don't think so. But, Mr. Snowden will most likely go to jail.