“The secrecy creates a one-way mirror: the US government sees what everyone else in the world does, including its own population, while no one sees its own actions. It is the ultimate imbalance, permitting the most dangerous of all human conditions: the exercise of limitless power with no transparency or accountability.” – No Place to Hide
In April 2023, a 21-year-old serviceman, Jack Teixeira, was arrested for leaking military documents relating to the Ukrainian war with Russia. Immediately, the New York Times and Washington Post identified, exposed, and demanded punishment for his betrayal of government secrets. Despite being called the biggest leak of government information since Edward Snowden, the focus was once again placed on the messenger, rather than the substance of the leak. That substance was the confirmation of American troops on the ground in Ukraine, American resistance to a diplomatic resolution, and use of American weapons against Russia, all denied by the US government over the past 15 months.
Looking back, past leaks exposed during the Obama and Biden administrations received similar disdain from the corporate press. In fact, Obama had a special contempt for government tattletales, with eight out of 13 espionage charges to date, coming from his administration alone. In 1917, the Espionage Act was enacted on the heels of the United States' entry into World War I, making it illegal to share information that may threaten national security. What remains of the Act today is focused largely on prosecuting spies and leakers. It was only during the Trump administration that whistleblowers who provided details of the Michael Flynn transcripts, the Supreme Court abortion leak over Roe v. Wade, and Trump's quid pro quo with Ukrainian President Zelensky, were heralded as heroes by the left-wing press. Instead, the overarching question should be whether the revelation was brought to expose government misconduct or to commit treason against one’s country. For the whistleblower, however, when the government sanctions a leak to the media, the action is praised, when unauthorized disclosures of government wrongdoing are revealed, it is charged as a crime.
The modern usage of the term whistleblower was coined by consumer advocate, Ralph Nadar, in the early 1970s, to remove the negative connotation associated with the word snitch or informer. By 1989, the Whistleblower Protection Act was passed to protect federal employees who report violations of laws from any retaliatory actions against them. Since then, a narrowing of the definition of what qualifies as whistleblower protection has diminished as a result of several appellate court decisions.
Perhaps America’s most famous whistleblower was Daniel Ellsberg, a military analyst, who leaked a top-secret Department of Defense study of the Vietnam War in 1971, revealing an expansion of the war, that until then had been withheld from American media. While initially charged under the Espionage Act, those indictments were later dropped. A more recent informer, Chelsey Manning, leaked secret military documents about the Iraq War to Wikileaks, was convicted, but eventually received a commutation from President Obama after serving 7 years. Also noteworthy are Edward Snowden who in 2013 exposed NSA abuses; Reality Winner, who in 2017 released Russian election interference documents; and Julian Assange who founded Wikileaks in 2006, was charged in 2019 for his role in posting classified information but continues to avert arrest by US officials. Referring to WikiLeaks as the enemy of the people, a Soviet practice, government officials have codified all leaks, outside of authorized channels, as a threat to their power.
In the United States, the terrorist attacks on September 11 were the catalyst for extreme surveillance in the name of national security, a watershed opportunity for the government to grow. Following the attacks, the official War on Terror began with the passing of the Patriot Act which authorized the NSA to monitor foreign parties outside the US without a FISA warrant, even if they are in communication with someone inside the US. By the end of 2001, however, warrantless eavesdropping of American citizens was in full swing. The Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures without a warrant, by requiring probable cause. Using concerns over national security and the need to combat terrorism was simply a trojan horse to expand the size and scope of the federal government.
In Glenn Greenwald’s 2014 book, “No Place to Hide” Greenwald, a Constitutional and Civil Rights lawyer turned journalist, tells the story of Edward Snowden and his courageous act to expose the overreaches of the national surveillance state and its effect on privacy in the digital age. Covered in the pages of the UK Guardian, Snowden's loyalties changed once he realized that targeted surveillance of suspected criminals had morphed into mass surveillance of the entire population. Shaken by the extent of the government’s ability and actions in collecting bulk data on everyone, he wanted to ignite a debate over privacy, and the dangers of state surveillance. Snowden’s disclosures are considered the most important in the history of government informers. At great risk and sacrifice, Snowden exposed the NSA's abuse of power, then outed himself, so none of his coworkers would be subjected to suspicion.
Snowden’s revelation revealed the scope of digital spying on a mass scale, including mass surveillance of US citizens without a warrant, an illegal breach of law. He exposed how government agents can convert your cellphone into a listening device, without your knowledge. A useful tool against criminals, but a gross violation when applied to citizens. A program called PRISM was set up by the government that gave them direct access to Big Tech servers for everyone, both at home and abroad. When questioned by Congress, security officials lied about the extent of domestic spying. They also lied about its intent, as most data collected by the NSA has less to do with national security and terrorism concerns, and more to do with focusing on political opponents.
Privacy is a human right, by almost every standard. Freedom is lost when citizens are subjected to spying, as it changes behavior and can lead to self-censorship. Using intimidation and fear towards those who disagree with prevailing narratives sends the message that dissidents are bad, and compliers are good. Instead, TV, cable, and print collaborators suppress wrongdoing, as they side with their powerful government allies at the expense of the citizens. Once radical watchdogs of the régime have now become their best advocates.
In the past year, we have watched as several politicians from Trump to Biden to Pence, caught with classified documents in their possession, apparently outside of proper protocol. For the most part, elite immunity allows these individuals to divert accountability. Yet, there is no such exemption for the common men who are repeatedly encouraged to say something, if they see something. Snowden, and others, came forward to shine a light on government wrongdoing and overreach. They should be rewarded, not threatened with criminal misconduct.
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