Edward J. Snowden

Hong Kong Rally to Support Snowden, Garden Road, Central, Hong Kong, June 15, 2013.

Edward J. Snowden (b. ca. 1984) is a 29-year-old American IT specialist, video game player[1] and a former employee of defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton (a contractor for the National Security Agency). In June 2013 Snowden embarrassed Barack Obama by revealing the mass domestic surveillance program known as "PRISM,". This is an internet snooping program run by the National Security Agency, as constituted by former President George W. Bush. He explained to shocked Americans that the National Security Agency had in effect built a dossier on every man, woman and child in the United States of America, and probably beyond borders,

The revelations made Snowden Obama's nemesis, and Obama has neglected most other issues, notably the downfall of the Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt in his pursuit of the young man. At one point, Obama had Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia detained in an inept attempt to intercept Snowden.

Snowden told the British left wing newspaper The Guardian:

• "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."

The liberal Washington Post quotes him as saying:

• "Allowing the U.S. government to intimidate its people with threats of retaliation for revealing wrongdoing is contrary to the public interest."

After leaking the information in question, Snowden stayed in Hong Kong for a while; he then left China and went to Russia en route to seeking asylum in Ecuador. Snowden was apparently travelling on a passport that had been revoked. The Wikileaks organization has helped Snowden to stay ahead of Obama's grasp. The president of Ecuador Rafael Correa explained that Snowden cannot go to Ecuador. As of July 6, 2013, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Venezuealan President Nicolas Maduro had offered asylum to Snowden.

Political reaction

Activist in New York's Union Square, June 10, 2013.

John Boehner called Snowden a "traitor" who committed a "giant violation of the law" that put Americans at risk. Numerous other high ranking officials have hawkishly demanded his extradition from the People's Republic of China. From China, however, reactions have been supportive, with calls by politicians, and various civil liberties organizations, to implore Beijing to block extradition attempts, on grounds of national security.

While many blasted Snowden, Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, a member of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee and one of the chamber's most conservative members, said, "it's going to be an open question how this young man is judged." "If he goes to an independent third country like Iceland and if he refuses to talk to any sort of formal government about this, I think there's a chance that he'll be seen as an advocate of privacy." [2]

See also

• Bradley Manning
• Julian Assange
• Warrantless domestic surveillance
• Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court