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Monday, June 10, 2013

NSA source goes public

The source behind last week's revelations of vast communications surveillance operations by the National Security Administration has identified himself. Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former undercover CIA employee who now works for the firm Booz Allen Hamilton as a contractor at the NSA office in Hawaii, told the Guardian, "I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong."

"I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant," Snowden said.

Snowden is currently in Hong Kong, where he says he fled because "they have a spirited commitment to free speech and the right of political dissent" and says he is seeking “asylum from any countries that believe in free speech and oppose the victimization of global privacy." (As it happens, Hong Kong does have an extradition treaty with the United States.)

On morning news shows on Sunday, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein both said the source of the NSA leaks should be prosecuted and defended the usefulness of the programs.