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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday September 17 2019, @02:39PM   Printer-friendly
from the will-not-end-well dept.

Update: DannyB adds: United States Files Civil Lawsuit Against Edward Snowden

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/edward-snowden-nsa-cbs-this-morning-interview-today-2019-09-16/

When pressed on whether he considers what he did unlawful, Snowden refused to take a position but said "it's not hard to make the argument that I broke the law." He went on to say that the government continues to allege that his disclosures caused harm but, according to Snowden, has yet to show evidence of that harm.

"They never show evidence for it even though we're now more than 6 years on, it would be the easiest thing in the world to show. We've never heard that story," he said. "If they had some classified evidence that a hair on a single person's head was harmed, you know as well as I do, it would be on the front page of The New York Times by the end of the day."

Snowden also took issue with the common refrain that leaking classified documents violated the oath of secrecy he took upon entering the CIA. He said an oath of secrecy does not exist.

"One of the common misconceptions in one of the earlier attacks, that we heard in 2015, that we don't hear of so much anymore is that I violated this oath of secrecy. That does not exist. There is a secrecy agreement, but there is also an oath of service. An oath of service is to support and defend, not an agency, not even the president, it is to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies – direct quote – foreign and domestic. And this begs the question, what happens when our obligations come into conflict."


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by bradley13 on Tuesday September 17 2019, @03:43PM (1 child)

    by bradley13 (3053) on Tuesday September 17 2019, @03:43PM (#895201) Homepage Journal

    Snowdon harmed a number of illegal government programs. Harmed the overall reputation of a government that is out of control.

    Fair trial? Snort. He'll be treated like Manning: stuffed in prison, under conditions that break him. He can forget any sort of justice.

    The only way he can ever return to the US would be to get a Presidential pardon. Which seems rather unlikely...

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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by ikanreed on Tuesday September 17 2019, @04:02PM

    by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 17 2019, @04:02PM (#895219) Journal

    Yeah, I don't how much longer the core trust democracies depend on(i.e. the sense that while things might go wrong sometimes, your interactions with power have an attempt at justice behind them) will last in the US. The ~50% voter turnout of the last 40-odd years is a sign of deep decay, and I don't think there's a single institution in the entire united states that people can point to and say "yeah that's basically working like it should" now. Not a single one.

    Churches are corrupt engines of cultural conservatism.
    Taxes are only paid by honest people, with the richest often not paying a fucking dime.
    Cops are murdering people and taking their money without trial.
    Courts are basically rubber stamps for the side with more money.
    The military is just shooting people who are no threat to us half way around the world for reasons only national security weirdos can adequately articulate.
    Our spies are spying on us.
    Doctors are more concerned with billing us effectively than treating us effectively.

    The rot is deep.