Now Snowden has gone from being a whistleblower to being a traitor.
Why is Edward Snowden a traitor?
From the New York Times:
A Russian law enforcement official quoted anonymously by Interfax said that the Russian authorities had taken unusual measures to protect Mr. Snowden. “This was done so that nothing threatened Edward Snowden, so that he could spend the night calmly in a capsule hotel and fly to Russia without problems,” the official was quoted as saying.
Mr. Snowden is reportedly carrying four laptop computers with American intelligence documents that he downloaded to a thumb drive this spring while working in Hawaii for the National Security Agency as an employee of Booz Allen Hamilton. The Guardian newspaper of Britain disclosed a week ago that Mr. Snowden had provided the newspaper with documents showing that during a conference in London in 2009, the United States was able to access the communications of Dmitri A..., then the Russian president and now the prime minister. That disclosure will almost certainly cause Russia to review its codes and other procedures for top leaders.
Dmitri V. Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, said he considered it likely that Mr. Snowden would remain in Russia, a country that is increasingly positioning itself as a protector of people like Mr. Assange, whom Western governments wish to prosecute.
“I don’t think there is any other country that would stand up to U.S. pressure, which will be tremendous,” Mr. Trenin said. “The Chinese don’t want to spoil their relationship with the United States. Russia is sometimes embracing conflict with the U.S.”
He noted that Russia Today, the state-financed English-language cable news channel, has become a platform for figures like Mr. Assange, who are unlikely to appear through mainstream Western news outlets.
It is one thing to blow the whistle on the unlawful spying on Americans by the government. It is quite another to share American intelligence with foreign nations that may have hostile intent towards America.
There is a point where we might have been able to thank Snowden for doing something to help America.
It now appears that his blowing the whistle on the NSA domestic spying program was only a pretense so he could sell American secrets to the highest bidder.
