- Several NSA whistleblowers did capture public attention, perhaps it did not bring about the reforms you wish though
So the only thing they accomplished was jail time and now change? Ya, that DEFINITELY seems like the route Snowden should have taken
- Snowden revealed a lot more than domestic spying. Information he revealed makes it harder for the NSA to operate abroad
A. Yes he did, and thank fuck he did so. B. Yes he did, and thank fuck he did so.
- National security is a life and death issue.
LOL National Security is not a life or death issue. Think of it as a scale rather than a switch. It can be stronger or weaker, but it's not On or Off.
Being a member of the CIA or NSA is essentially being a soldier. You should be willing to die for the country at the drop of a hat. If Snowden truly believed what he was doing was the right thing to protect the nation then why flee like a coward?
God, where to start. Ok, first of all, yes, some Intel operatives are true soldiers in that they put themselves at serious risk for the sake of our nation. But 99% of the CIA and 100 PER FUCKING CENT of the NSA sit behind desks in the Beltway, risking nothing. I don't want to seem like I'm devaluing their work, because analysis work is necessary, but lets not get too generous.
As for Snowden fleeing? See Q1. Also, funny calling someone a coward from behind a keyboard 0.o
- I am not getting into a discussion of classified vulnerabilities, I will say anything almost could be of value to a foreign intelligence service. Snowden would have been in the civilian justice system, not the military justice system like Manning.
Almost anything doesn't mean they should have access to almost everything. Oh, civilian courts? Well thank fuck that worked out so well for previous whistleblowers. See Q1.
- I am not a lawyer so it is hard to for me to comment on the legal issues. I know that the US Justice Department could bring these issues before Courts. I know there have been citizen filed class action cases as well.
There's a long version of this story that I really don't want to take the time to find right now, but I think it's referenced in the 2 or 3 part PBS doc on the whole Snowden/PRISM thing. Anyways, there was someone at Justice and a staffer on the Hill that both had problems with these programs. The guy at Justice was moved to another department and the staffer was fired. I think I'm remembering this incorrectly though, so someone help me with this one.
- The way the NSA works is they collect a lot of data and then use programs to search for things that might relate to terrorism or involve national security. Very little even gets looked at by live human eyes. Nor does the NSA have the resources to track down every little thing. I am aware the NSA was doing some really stupid things like trashing people's dates. There just was just not enough oversight and some NSA agents I guess had the wrong attitude. People are imperfect and institutions imperfect. What the exact frequency of misconduct was I am unsure.
All the more reason to up the oversight/burn the whole mother fucker down.
- There are many problems in the US and in the world. Where exact lines for the NSA should be drawn I am unsure. As a democratic society though you see a large public debate about what the NSA should do though.
The exactly lines for the NSA are fucking clear as day: NO SPYING ON AMERICAN CITIZENS. It says this in the NSA's charter. What about that are you unsure about?
In police states if you were to talk out against them they would just disappear you.
Can't imagine what would make a whistleblower want to flee the country then...