IT'S TIME TO PARDON EDWARD SNOWDEN

Fabrizio Gowdy | Opinions | August 24TH, 2020

In an Aug. 15 press conference, President Donald Trump unexpectedly announced that he is looking into pardoning former National Security Administration contractor-turned-whistleblower Edward Snowden, who currently lives in exile in Russia. Snowden sought refuge there in 2013 after leaking highly classified documents revealing that the U.S. government was conducting operations of mass surveillance on its own citizens. 

Government surveillance seems to be one of the few remaining issues that splits the two parties and creates unusual alliances, pitting civil libertarians Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) against pro-surveillance senators like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.). Unsurprisingly, Trump received swift bipartisan pushback following the statements, with top Democrats like California Rep. Adam Schiff saying a pardon would be a “serious mistake.” Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the third highest ranking house Republican, warned the president that pardoning Snowden would be “unconscionable.” And even Attorney General Bill Barr, a staunch ally of the president, said Friday that he is “vehemently opposed” to any sort of pardon.

Edward Snowden in 2013 (retrieved from google images)

It is unclear why the president is suddenly open to a pardon; in 2013, Trump himself called Snowden, “a spy who should be executed.” But while Trump might lack any deep ideological convictions when it comes to privacy issues and mass surveillance, pardoning Snowden would certainly be the right thing to do. 

Snowden exposed a vast and unchecked surveillance state run amok. Fearful of another terrorist attack in the wake of 9/11, Americans were willing to fork over some civil liberties in exchange for perceived “security.” The prevailing idea at the time was that 9/11 could have been prevented if not for burdensome restrictions on our intelligence agencies, and that by simply unshackling the poor patriots at the NSA, we could prevent future terrorist attacks and save lives. And so, in October 2001, the USA PATRIOT ACT passed the House 366-57 and the Senate 98-1. The Patriot Act greatly expanded the intelligence community’s surveillance capabilities. The program was reauthorized several times and remained uncontroversial until 2013, when a 29 year-old NSA contractor named Edward Snowden leaked damning documents revealing a slew of unconstitutional surveillance programs and operations authorized by the Patriot Act’s “Section 215”. 

A program nicknamed “Stellarwind” allowed for widespread data mining of communication records such as e-mails, phone calls, financial transactions, and internet activity. “Prism” and “X-Keyscore” were operations that saw the government gather and store internet communications and user data from companies like AT&T and Verizon. Perhaps the most egregious trampling of the Fourth Amendment was the “library records provision,” which requires third party individuals and businesses to hand over “any tangible things” relevant to an investigation. This broad and all-encompassing language represents a clear departure from the spirit of the founding. 

One of the major reasons our forefathers fought a revolution was because the British were breaking down doors without a warrant and seizing letters and documents. This is why we have a Fourth Amendment and prohibit warrantless searches. But the FISA court, the federal court responsible for issuing warrants authorizing surveillance, is effectively a rubber stamp. According to the Wall Street Journal, from 1979 to 2012, the FISA court approved over 33,000 warrant requests and denied just 12. 

Former National Security Director James Clapper testifies before congress (retrieve from google images)

Much of this only came to light after Snowden had the courage to call out our intelligence community. He initially attempted to raise his concerns through internal channels, but he was ignored. The United States is so hostile to whistleblowers that he was driven into the arms of the Russians, our adversaries. If anyone deserves to face prosecution, it is former National Intelligence Director James Clapper, who committed perjury in 2013 when he was asked under oath in a Senate hearing if the NSA collected, “any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans.” His false answer, “No sir,” was later cited by Snowden as the “breaking point” that led to his decision to leak the documents. 

The Patriot Act is the most unpatriotic of acts. The pendulum has swung far in the direction of security, with little regard for our constitutional rights and privacy. We need to start clawing our privacy and freedom back. We need to encourage a culture that is more friendly to whistleblowers. Granting Snowden a pardon would be a solid first step in that direction.

Snowden is not a traitor. He is a patriot. When he saw an unchecked and unaccountable surveillance state trampling our civil liberties, he raised the alarm, risking his own well-being in an effort to save our vanishing privacy rights. It’s time we start protecting whistleblowers rather than prosecuting them. It is time to pardon Edward Snowden.

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A pro-Snowden demonstrator protests near the U.S. Capitol (retrieved from google images)