Fans of Edward Snowden took to social media in droves this week to support the National Security Agency whistleblower, despite backlash from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, who Monday condemned Mr. Snowden for “treason.”
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Twitter garnered support for the whistleblower with the trending hashtag “#IStandWithEdwardSnowden.”
Additionally, the White House’s petition website saw multiple new requests related to the issue, some asking President Obama to “pardon Edward Snowden” and another challenging the president to debate Mr. Snowden about the NSA surveillance.
Ms. Feinstein claimed that when Mr. Snowden released detailed information about a government program called PRISM, and other activities of the NSA, he violated his oath to defend the Constitution. Ironically, Mr. Snowden and his apologists have informally charged the government with violations of the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure.
Article III, Section 3 of the Constitution defines acts of treason specifically as those in which the perpetrator is “levying War against [the United States], or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort” and can carry the death penalty.
Mr. Snowden — who previously worked for the Central Intelligence Agency and, most recently, for Booz-Allen, a private contractor for the NSA — claims to have selectively leaked the information to avoid endangering Americans.
Ms. Feinstein was not the first to push for the whistleblower’s prosecution. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterintelligence and Terrorism, also called for his prosecution — to the “fullest extent of the law” — in addition to asking other nations to deny Mr. Snowden asylum.
President Obama, despite frequently praising the idea of whistle-blowing during his 2008 campaign and who lobbied for the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act in 2012, has yet to offer support for any specific acts of whistle-blowing. In fact, since taking office, President Obama has led what Salon.com refers to as an “unprecedented war on whistleblowers.”
Furthermore, the current administration has charged a record number of people under the Espionage Act – more than all past presidents combined.
In the court of public opinion, however, the activities of PRISM and the NSA surveillance described by Mr. Snowden’s leak have caught the attention of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has expressed the desire to sue the federal government over the supposed Fourth Amendment abuses.
The Hill reported that Department of Justice spokesman Nanda Chitre claims that the DOJ is “in the initial stages of an investigation into the unauthorized disclosure of classified information by an individual with authorized access.”
President Obama addressed the nation’s concerns last week claiming that the activities of PRISM and government surveillance are “modest encroachments on privacy.” The justification for such actions, according to the White House, comes from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The Director of National Intelligence released a fact sheet regarding PRISM and denounced the media’s coverage of the disclosures as rushed and lacking full context.
Mr. Snowden was recently reported to have been in Hong Kong, but has since checked out of his hotel. As of Friday night, his whereabouts are still unknown.
Robby Barthelmess is a freelance photographer in Santa Barbara, Calif. A graduate of UCLA who earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy, he commonly contributes cultural- and political-opinion pieces to PolicyMic, a news website for millennials. Follow Robby Barthelmess on Twitter: @r_barthelmess