Edward Snowden Leaks

Edward Snowden is a whistleblower from the 21st century. Snowden was a man who had outstanding IT skills and eventually landed a job at the NSA. He gained access to numerous files that showed the crimes the NSA was committing against its own people and against other countries as well. They were spying on people’s privacy and claimed that it was for the national security that would benefit all people. Snowden said that he could not let this

Edward Snowden took advantage of his access the government’s vast electronic surveillance operations. Snowden had access to more sensitive information than Manning but, in his dealings so far with the Washington Post and The Guardian, he has made a key point of not releasing all the documents he had which is saving him from harsher punishment. ("What Bradley Manning Leaked.”) Many of the documents that Edward Snowden had exposed were related to our military capabilities, operations, tactics, techniques and procedures. Even a confidential Pentagon report written by military intelligence officials claims that Edward Snowden's leaks had put U.S. soldiers at serious risk and encouraged terrorists to change their strategies. ("Snowden Leaks Could Cost Military Billions: Pentagon.") However, in the middle of 2014, the NSA's director, U.S. Navy Admiral Michael S. Rogers, said that while some terrorist groups had changed their communications to avoid surveillance techniques revealed by Snowden, the damage done was not significant enough to claim it as an immediate threat or danger. Still, in February 2015, “the NSA director said that Snowden's disclosures created "blind spots" in the NSA's surveillance by revealing U.S. strategies to monitor terrorism”.( "What NSA Director Mike Rogers Doesn't

I am not too familiar with Snowden, besides the headlines he made a few years back, which state that he released information about the NSA domestic surveillance activities. I don’t think he is a traitor to the country, because he released the truth, that we are being monitored.

The law, as fearful and absolute as it may be, is not always just. It is actually quite admirable that he knowingly broke a serious law that not many dare to commit to do what he truly felt was the right thing to do. According to Edward Snowden himself, “There were people throughout the NSA that I worked with that I had private conversations with—and I’ve had conversations since in other federal agencies—who had the same concerns I did, but they were afraid to take action because they knew what would happen.” (Nation) To many Americans, this make Snowden a hero. It is extremely courageous to sacrifice and risk everything you have to fight for and protect the rights of your fellow Americans by standing up against the federal government knowing full well of the consequences of his action. He did not betray the country, but instead, he fought to preserve the true form of liberty and freedom at its core in which our country have adopted and built itself

Snowden is now seen as either a traitor or a hero by many. As a result of what snowden did, some persons see his actions as being unethical because of the fact that he may have violated a secrecy agreement but it can also show that the law was unjust and unconstitutional. In addition, the Attorney General of the United States, Eric Holder, also did not find Edward’s rationale to be very convincing. He stated, “He broke the law. He caused harm to our national security and I think that he has to be held accountable for his actions.”

It has been reported that he was invited to join the NSA’s hacking team known as Tailor Access Operations. Given the fact that he was given access to such classified it can be said that he was a highly skilled employee, however his personal conscious differed from his employer’s goals. One of the main reasons Snowden decided to leak the data that he did, was because he felt that the gross amount of constitutional laws being broken was not acceptable. Though Snowden was correct in that there were many laws being broken, he did in the end break the law himself by disclosing such classified information. Snowden understood his fate would likely be bleak but hoped to make a difference and enlighten the public. In that self-sacrificing view, Edward Snowden is a hero. A hero who is not afraid of the consequences, but who wishes everyone to know to what extent they are being monitored and watched. Edward Snowden sacrificed the freedom he once had, permanently, just to inform citizens of the world what was occurring in their governments. Even though there were many other individuals with similar access, no one ever felt obligated to come forward with this information. Snowden may be a hero but he much more than that, he helped many, hurt others, and informed the

Edward Snowden was born on June 21, 1983 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. He is known for sharing classified documents about the U.S. government and collecting data illegally from U.S. citizens. He did this by downloading the documents, encrypting them in emails, sending them back and forth to reporters and publishing them. The charges the government are charging him with is stealing government property, distribution of national defense information in which he was not authorized/allowed to do, and sharing the information with people whom weren’t supposed to know it. The reason he was even willing to be charged with these charges is because the government was collecting more information than they really needed such as our phone records,

Critics of Edward Snowden label him a traitor and a coward. They condemn him for irreparably harming government security operations and setting of a worldwide chain of events that weakened the American position on the world stage. While America now has blight on its records due to the leaks, the topic that should be addressed is should the whistle-blower, the man who uncovered and exposed the questionable and wrong activities, be blamed or should those who allowed the illegal and immoral activities be held accountable for what they started. Edward Snowden had the justification and conviction to do the correct thing and present the incriminating evidence straight to the public. When one takes in consideration everything that Snowden has lost because of his decision, there was little gain for him to make the immoral activities public. Snowden’s crime is breaching the trust of his government contract to expose egregious monitoring by the government on the American public. In an interview conducted by the Washington Post, Snowden speaks out about his goal in releasing the files: “All I wanted was for the public to be able to have a say in how they are governed,”

Edward Snowden. This is a name that will be in the history books for ages. He will be branded a traitor or a whistleblower depending on where you look. Many Americans feel that Edward Snowden is a traitor who sold the United States’ secrets aiming to harm the nation. Others believe that he was simply a citizen of the United States who exercised his right to expose the government for their unconstitutional actions. It is important to not only know the two sides to the argument of friend or foe, but to also know the facts as well. My goal in this paper is to present the facts without bias and to adequately portray the two sides of the argument.

The government, specifically the NSA and Obama Administration have been embarrassed by the leaks. Their aim is to bring Snowden back to the US for prosecution and have him be the next target under the Espionage Act for whistleblowers. Under the Obama Administration there have been double the amount of people prosecuted under the act than any other previous administration in history since the enacting. (Greenberg, 2014) It seems that Snowden has seen an unfairness and gross abuse of power and has felt compelled to bring these things to light for the public interest, and for the global stage. The need for change from such actions, the employment of fear to strip the public’s rights and privacies, and the use of mining centers to take all our data to whatever government end has all been shown. They (the government) is not particularly happy with the revealed truths behind their hidden programs. The fact they label it under the Espionage Act as to say Snowden has aided our enemies in breaching national security is, to the open minded and intelligent, a cowardly move, since our “enemies” already have known

Edward Snowden isn’t the only person who believes what the U.S. had done was wrong, but also many American leaders, and other nations around the world. The United States had not only been collecting data on their own citizens, but also of other countries leaders and citizens. The release of these documents had strained political relationships between the U.S. and other allied nations. The knowledge and truth other leaders and nations had gained

Edward Snowden was placed in a very difficult position. On one hand, he could follow the law but know he was letting unethical conduct continue, and on the other hand, breaking the law. Regardless of his decision, I guarantee he put great though into each choice and alternative.

Although Snowden’s intentions were meant for “public awareness”, he stirred up a little too much awareness than he imagined. During the first year of the leak, people had increased distrust with their own government. “.. The world began to learn the vast scope of the National Security Agency’s reaches into the lives of hundreds of millions of people in the United States and around the globe, as it collects information about their phone calls, their email messages, their friends and contacts, how they spend their days and where they spend their nights.”(The Editorial Boardjan) People like to live in blissful ignorance and once they find out that their privacy has been compromised, paranoia takes

Snowden would view his actions as right in according to the Deontology Duty Theory. The Duty Theory believes that an act is morally right if it in accord with a duty or obligations. With this said many would view Snowden as a Whistle Blower and Patriot, since he took action when he believed that it was his duty to reveal that N.S.A. was secretly invading the privacy of the people.

According to American philosopher and psychologist, William James, “there can be no final truth in ethics anymore than in physics, until the last man has had his experience or said his say” (William James). In regards to this quote by William James, the ethical concerns brought to light by Mr. Snowden “having his experience and saying his say” are numbered; therefore, I will elaborate upon two, which I deem deserving of comprehensive speculation. For example, the first ethical issue raised is seen through Mr. Snowden sharing his exposure of classified information, privileged only to the National Security Agency, and its employees. Indeed, Mr. Snowden took it upon himself to divulge these personal known truths for all to acknowledge, which in short; enlightened all American citizens to what the National Security Agency was doing, “behind closed doors.” Thus, Mr. Snowden displayed genuine, upright conduct in relation to his concerns about what was happening each day to the people of the United States. For as United States citizens, we befittingly have a right to know when our privacy is being infringed upon, and furthermore, should have to agree to it. Yet; at the same time we are presented with another equitable complication, which is Mr. Snowden should be held accountable for his actions of wrong doing. Consequently, he should have to stand trial in order to pay retribution for the crime he committed. In order to bring