[Edited to add: Strange that they released this email, they claimed Snowden's emails were exempt from FOIA & that they didn't have records, because he was never a NSA or CSS employee? see https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-states-of-america-10/edward-snowden-employeecontractor-reviewsagreements-5971/]
He asks for some clarification about Executive Orders, that they are of lesser authority than Federal Statues.
In addition to the email, IC On The Record states that they can't find any other evidence that Snowden was trying to fix problems through official procedures or channels.
Based on this statement:
"There are numerous avenues that Mr. Snowden could have used to raise other concerns or whistleblower allegations. We have searched for additional indications of outreach from him in those areas and to date have not discovered any engagements related to his claims."It seems clear they (Executive Branch of Government) are continuing to portray Snowden as someone who refused to follow correct procedures and just wanted some personal gain or revenge.
That doesn't fit the facts very well.
Consider that Snowden turned over the document collection to the reporters that he had decided to trust. And refused to dictate the agenda.
He certainly could have released fewer documents, or only documents that targeted what he wanted revenge against, or even had sold the documents.
He didn't do that.
Funny thing is, many of the claims of government officials & politicians have repeatedly been proven to be false by the documents released so far.
Not to mention court cases that had been denied because standing couldn't be proved until documents Snowden released were published by reporters. Or in other words, Snowden enabled Courts to actually provide a check on Executive branch of government, including NSA, like they are supposed to do.
More on US Seperation of Powers:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_powers_under_the_United_States_Constitution
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_powers#United_States
More on IC On The Record, according to info on their site http://icontherecord.tumblr.com/post/58838654347/welcome-to-ic-on-the-record: Created at the direction of the President of the United States, IC ON THE RECORD provides immediate, ongoing and direct access to factual information related to the lawful foreign surveillance activities carried out by the U.S. Intelligence Community
Despite that data, some still try to claim Snowden did this for fame/notoriety or out of spite.
I suppose that is possible based on the evidence we have so far, but it doesn't seem targeted, or focused, with that as a primary goal.
Also based on the pattern of denials by Government, followed by documentation that prove those denials false, I wouldn't be surprised if eventually, documentation surfaces showing that Snowden did attempt to resolve at least some issues through official means.
Need to remember that Snowden seems smart, one of the most frequent comments from people that meet him.
Note smart people tend to learn quickly, I doubt it would have taken many failures to fix things through official means for Snowden to realize the official means were designed to maintain status quo, not fix things.
Being a smart nerd, he would have then searched for some way to fix that problem.
No comments:
Post a Comment