I could have been Edward Snowden. Thank ghod I'm not.
So...Edward Snowden.
In the 1990s, I worked on a domestic surveillance program as a subcontractor to the CIA. My clearances were SI/TK/BYE. So I have some knowledge about recent news.
My first instinct is that Ed Snowden is a Chinese asset. The timing of his leak, his choice for sanctuary, the fact that he only leaked a part of the programs in question -- all of it smacks me as timed by a handler. He may not know that he's in Chinese hands. There are any number of ways to manipulate an asset without clueing him in that he's a stooge for a foreign power.
As for the programs he leaked, I think I worked on the CIA versions. (It's doubtful that the CIA and NSA shared software. They generally did not like each other in the '90s. I don't know whether that's changed.) If I'm right about how they work, it's the weakest form of domestic surveillance possible with plenty of oversight. That's not to say that they aren't surveillance or that they are constitutional. But I'm sure it can be argued that they follow the letter of the law, and I'm sure they are a significant aid to intelligence agencies.
I'm also sure that programs like this cannot be stopped. The big challenge of the 20th century was stopping totalitarianism; we fought a couple wars over that. The big challenge of the 21st century will be for mankind to find a way to flourish under totalitarian rule, because it's here and it was always inevitable.
In the 1990s, I worked on a domestic surveillance program as a subcontractor to the CIA. My clearances were SI/TK/BYE. So I have some knowledge about recent news.
My first instinct is that Ed Snowden is a Chinese asset. The timing of his leak, his choice for sanctuary, the fact that he only leaked a part of the programs in question -- all of it smacks me as timed by a handler. He may not know that he's in Chinese hands. There are any number of ways to manipulate an asset without clueing him in that he's a stooge for a foreign power.
As for the programs he leaked, I think I worked on the CIA versions. (It's doubtful that the CIA and NSA shared software. They generally did not like each other in the '90s. I don't know whether that's changed.) If I'm right about how they work, it's the weakest form of domestic surveillance possible with plenty of oversight. That's not to say that they aren't surveillance or that they are constitutional. But I'm sure it can be argued that they follow the letter of the law, and I'm sure they are a significant aid to intelligence agencies.
I'm also sure that programs like this cannot be stopped. The big challenge of the 20th century was stopping totalitarianism; we fought a couple wars over that. The big challenge of the 21st century will be for mankind to find a way to flourish under totalitarian rule, because it's here and it was always inevitable.