Gabbard tries to explain Snowden support to skeptical intel leaders

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Hill

01/18/25 6:00 AM ET


Tulsi Gabbard is trying to explain her past support for Edward Snowden, including her push to pardon the national security leaker, to a tough crowd: members of the Senate Intelligence Committee considering her confirmation.

When she was still in the House, Gabbard introduced a resolution calling for all charges to be dropped against Snowden. And she urged President-elect Trump at the end of his first term to pardon people who “exposed the deception and criminality of those in the deep state,” in commenting on another post specifically mentioning Snowden.

That is not the type of rhetoric you hear on Snowden from members of Congress’s two intelligence committees.

“I don’t think Edward Snowden is a patriot by any means. He’s a traitor to his own nation,” said Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Read more: https://thehill.com/regulation/national-security/5092295-gabbard-defends-snowden-position/

[comradebillyboy]

1. Hate to agree with James Lankford, but he's right.

Snowden appears to have engaged in a massive espionage operation on behalf of Russia.

I could never understand why anyone had any sympathy for this guy. Of course I couldn't understand how Tulsi became the darling of the left either.

[delisen]

2. I have never seen evidence that Snowden had been working on behalf of Russia.

What are you citing regarding massive espionage operation?

[tirebiter]

9. His address

[delisen]

11. Snowden had fled to Hong Kong but US revoked his passport leaving him stateless

Snowden’s attempts to reach South America were apparently thwarted.

I have found the Wikipedia account of Snowden’s eventual asylum in Russia to be. credible and Snowden’s claim that he had given all documents he had taken to American journalists in Hong Kong and kept no copies himself as also credible.

I have seen no evidence that he provided classified information to Russia.

Ironically there may be more evidence that the Former President Trump has benefited adversarial countries such as Russia through his taking, retaining, and failing to safeguard classified information.

[Autumn]

6. Where is the proof he was spying for Russia?

[comradebillyboy]

12. In 2013, computer expert and former CIA systems

administrator, Edward Snowden stole and released confidential government documents to the press about the existence of government surveillance programs. According to many legal experts, and the U.S. government, his actions violated the Espionage Act of 1917, which identified the leak of state secrets as an act of treason. Yet despite the fact that he broke the law, Snowden argued that he had a moral obligation to act. He gave a justification for his “whistleblowing” by stating that he had a duty “to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them.” According to Snowden, the government’s violation of privacy had to be exposed regardless of legality.

[Autumn]

13. That's not proof he was spying for Russia.

In 2020 a US court found that the Mass surveillance program exposed by Snowden was illegal.
https://www.reuters.com/article/world/us-court-mass-surveillance-program-exposed-by-snowden-was-illegal-idUSKBN25T3CJ/

What was in the leaks?
They contained previously unpublished details of a major global surveillance apparatus run by the NSA with the help of three partners in the Five Eyes security network – Australia's Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and Canada’s Communications Security Establishment (CSEC).

Within this framework was a programme known as Prism, which allows for court-approved direct access to the public’s Google and Yahoo accounts without their knowledge. The documents also revealed details of “Tempora”, a British black-ops surveillance programme run by GCHQ.

German news magazine Der Spiegel revealed that the NSA kept a spy database on more than 100 world leaders, including Angela Merkel, the German chancellor at the time.
https://theweek.com/103363/where-is-edward-snowden-now

[comradebillyboy]

14. It was clearly espionage. He committed the crime of espionage.

You may not like the covert programs our government runs but one may not steal and publish state secrets without serious legal consequences.

The fact that he promptly fled the country shows that he knew that he had committed serious crimes and wanted to escape the consequences of his actions.

[Autumn]

15. The courts ruled it was an illegal operation. You have given no proof, none at all

that he was spying for Russia. As far as I'm concerned he was a whistle-blower and should be pardoned. He didn't flee to Russia, he was heading to Ecuador and the US pulled his passport and he was stuck in the airport in Russia. That is how he ended up there.

[1WorldHope]

3. I am confused about Snowden.

All that I know of him is from Oliver Stones movie. I thought that he looked like a hero and whistle blower. I thought it was weird that he stayed in Russia, but he claimed he was stuck there. I would appreciate some clarity on this too.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. He is now a full Russian citizen (as of 2022)

Edward Snowden gets Russian passport after swearing oath of allegiance

Andrew Roth in Moscow
Fri 2 Dec 2022 12.02 EST
Last modified on Fri 2 Dec 2022 16.28 EST


Edward Snowden has received a Russian passport after swearing an oath of allegiance to the country that has sheltered him from US authorities since 2013, his lawyer has said. Snowden, 39, a former intelligence contractor who leaked secret files that were reported on by the Guardian, was granted Russian citizenship in an order signed by Vladimir Putin in September.

On Friday, Snowden’s lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, said Snowden had received his passport. “He took the oath,” he said.

The decision has come at an extremely inauspicious moment, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and subsequent descent into international isolation. Russia has mobilised its population for war and threatened to use nuclear weapons in order to defend territory it has occupied in Ukraine.

Kucherena said on Friday that Snowden was “happy” and that Russian citizenship would prevent him from being extradited. “He of course is happy and thankful to the Russian Federation for his citizenship – he’s now a fully fledged citizen of Russia,” Kucherena said. “And most importantly, under the Russian constitution, he cannot be given up to a foreign state.”

(snip)

'Nuff said.

(compare with what happened with Assange, who is now free and sitting back home in his native Australia)

[Autumn]

5. He was stuck, the US canceled his passport and Russian authorities restricted him

to the airport terminal. His plan was to go to Ecuador . He spent 40 days in the airport and was later given temporary asylum in Russia.

How Edward Snowden ended up in Russia

Whistleblower granted Russian citizenship after almost a decade in exile from the US

https://theweek.com/103363/where-is-edward-snowden-now

What was in the leaks?

They contained previously unpublished details of a major global surveillance apparatus run by the NSA with the help of three partners in the Five Eyes security network – Australia's Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and Canada’s Communications Security Establishment (CSEC).

Within this framework was a programme known as Prism, which allows for court-approved direct access to the public’s Google and Yahoo accounts without their knowledge. The documents also revealed details of “Tempora”, a British black-ops surveillance programme run by GCHQ.

German news magazine Der Spiegel revealed that the NSA kept a spy database on more than 100 world leaders, including Angela Merkel, the German chancellor at the time.

I think he should be pardoned.

[1WorldHope]

7. Well, I'm still confused now.

One answer is, he is a Russian citizen now, the other the things I remember from the movie. It seems like the orange felon is a bigger more guilty spy, and Snowden a folk hero. Another example of not knowing who or what to believe anymore. That is the point of the game.

[Autumn]

8. In 2020 a US court found that the Mass surveillance program exposed by Snowden

was illegal.

Snowden, who fled to Russia in the aftermath of the 2013 disclosures and still faces U.S. espionage charges, said on Twitter that the ruling was a vindication of his decision to go public with evidence of the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping operation.

"I never imagined that I would live to see our courts condemn the NSA's activities as unlawful and in the same ruling credit me for exposing them," Snowden said in a message posted to Twitter.

Evidence that the NSA was secretly building a vast database of U.S. telephone records - the who, the how, the when, and the where of millions of mobile calls - was the first and arguably the most explosive of the Snowden revelations published by the Guardian newspaper in 2013.

Up until that moment, top intelligence officials publicly insisted the NSA never knowingly collected information on Americans at all. After the program's exposure, U.S. officials fell back on the argument that the spying had played a crucial role in fighting domestic extremism, citing in particular the case of four San Diego residents who were accused of providing aid to religious fanatics in Somalia.

https://www.reuters.com/article/world/us-court-mass-surveillance-program-exposed-by-snowden-was-illegal-idUSKBN25T3CJ/

[Blue_Tires]

10. One Putinist stooge supporting another

No surprise there...