To briefly recapitulate the Events concerning the Snowden Affair: After Days and Weeks of Salami Tactic News Developments, Edward Snowden left Hong Kong for Moscow on Sunday, 23 June 2013, his Final Destination still unclear. Hong Kong jumped on a Technicality to rid itself of Snowden and thusly, together with and likely in Consultation with Mainland China (Hong Kong is under the ultimate Jurisdiction of The Mainland) passed on the hot Potato (or kicked the Can, one might say) into the Hands of Russia and President Putin. President Putin and consequently Russia have been ambivalent on the Issue; they have refused to hand Snowden over to the United States, yet, at the same Time, they have not been particularly eager, if indeed, eager at all, to offer Asylum to Snowden. Indeed, President Putin has come down, to a Degree, on the Side of the United States, stating that as a Condition for Snowden to be offered Asylum in Russia, Snowden would have to agree not to further „damage” the United States. As recently as today, however, President Putin indicated that Snowden should ultimately leave Russia. Russia's Motives are unclear and perhaps intentionally murky but it is difficult to imagine that it has not had at least partial Access to the Information which Snowden has; nobody knows what Kind of Information this is, perhaps not even The (Manchester) Guardian, which broke the Story and has been continuing to develop it but all Indications are that it is considerable.
Snowden had originally wanted to go to Iceland but he appears to have changed his Mind and now wants to go to South America. He seems to have been influenced in this Decision by Julian Assange, of Wiki Leaks. Julian Assange himself has received Asylum in Ecuador but cannot get there; he is confined to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua (the Latter in Central America), seem to have offered him Asylum of one Sort or another but it is not easy for him to get there because any Commercial Flight might either have to fly through United States Air Space or be within reach of United States Jets which may force the Aircraft to land on United States Territory, thus effectively foiling Snowden's Escape. There has been much made of the Fact that Snowden cannot fly because his U. S. Passport has been revoked; this Point is of questionable Validity because any Country which offers Asylum to Snowden can also issue a Laissez Passer (a simple Travel Document, literally meaning, let this Person pass). People have and still do travel without a Passport (willingly and sometimes unwillingly) when extraordinary Conditions exist.
However, ultimately, we believe, the Fate of Mr. Snowden is not central to the Crux of this Issue.
So, moving on to the Second Aspect, it has been revealed that considerable Eavesdropping has taken place against Friends and Foe alike; Russia, Western European and South American Countries. Many of these Countries are furious over the Revelations and demanding Explanations, which may be slow in coming. This Issue, we believe, is not central to the Crux of the Issue, either. Espionage has taken place since Time immemorial, both against Friend and Foe alike. It is often a messy Business but everyone does it and everyone uses any and all Means at its Disposal to do it as best as possible. Nearly all Countries, if indeed, not all Countries, conduct Espionage at some Level or another and, whoever is best at it comes up with the best Scoops. Greeks did it, Persians did it, Romans did it, the French did it, moving along to more recent History, the Germans did it, the Allies did it and most certainly, the Chinese have done it all the Time and keep on doing it in the grandest of Styles. So, while it may sound like a dirty Business and it is, everybody does it and, thusly, nobody should be surprised by it. In the old Days, when caught, Spies were hanged or, as Things became more modern, shot; these Days, they are usually sent to Jail or traded for other Spies. At Times, Spy Trade become a flourishing Business, actually (Take, for Example, the Case of former Russian Spy Anna Chapman-yes, she is Russian, who supposedly even offered to marry Snowden).
To the Question, what is the central Crux of this Issue, we believe, the Answer is simple: based on Snowden's Revelations and other Information, one Needs to ask, what are the Powers and, indeed, the Boundaries of a Country (in this Case, the United States) to gather indiscriminate Information on most if not all of its Citizens.
http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/09/18863448-lawmakers-americans-dont-know-how-carefully-the-government-is-watching?lite
It is also interesting to note the evolving Role not only of the NSA but also of at least one Private Corporation, Booz Allen Hamilton, which was (perhaps it still is) a noted Accounting Firm (in plain English, Bookkeepers, Beancounters), which has gotten into a Business which does not have much (if anything at all) to do with Accounting. Sorta like Lawyers getting into Brain Surgery, one might say.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/15/18940842-growth-of-intel-outsourcing-no-secret-but-now-congress-taking-notice?lite
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/11/18901089-leaked-secrets-pose-a-risk-for-booz-allen-where-secrecy-means-billions?lite
President Obama correctly pointed out that one has to strike a Balance between Security and Privacy; the Question is, if this vast amount of Information which is being collected from the American Public markedly increases the Security of ordinary Americans and if so, by how much.
Recent Experiences, those in Communist Countries and other Dictatorships indicate that ultimately, total (or nearly total) gathering of Information from the Populace can be a suffocating Experience. According to the Explanations offered by James Clapper, the Information Gathering Activites of the NSA are not only legal but have been authorized by Congress.
Many disagree. A Reading of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Act,
http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/50C36.txt
does not, we don't think, lead all of us to reach the same Conclusion which Mr. Clapper (and others), seem to have reached. Many Congressmen were not familiar, if familiar at all, with everything that the NSA has been doing, even though Mr. Clapper assures us that every Member of Congress was debriefed on the Activites of the National Security Agency.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/07/18827047-who-is-behind-the-snooping-and-how-long-has-it-been-going-on?lite
Of Concern are also the Activities of the FISA Court, the secret Federal Court to which the NSA goes for Approval, although, we assume that they did not even have to go to the FISA Court for the broad intercepting Activities which appear to involve a huge Amount (if not most) of all Telephone Conversations and eMails.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/07/us/in-secret-court-vastly-broadens-powers-of-nsa.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130707
Constitutional Concerns have been raised on the Issue of the FISA Court (which most People did not even know existed, until recently), having non adversarial Proceedings and what Appeals, if any, can be made.
Of further Concern is the broad trawling of Data (which the Government calls Meta Data) which, as the Word Trawling suggest, is essentially nothing more than a Fishing Expedition. The Concern has been expressed that if one can use the Constitution to justify that Type of Activity (the Process has not been subject to Constitutional Review), then a Lot of other Things could conceivably be justified which otherwise, one might have been reluctant to justify.
It should further be noted, in this Context, that, according to recent Polls, most American People oppose this Kind of Wholesale Data Gathering, Meta Data, Trawling, Fishing Expedition, whatever one ultimately calls it.
The Constitution of the United States is a wonderful Document; it was written more than 200 Years ago by some brilliant People who could not have possibly imagined what the Country they were founding will some Day look like.
Many have argued that the Constitution should be treated as a dynamic Document, which is to say, a Document which should be interpreted in accordance with the changing and evolving Conditions which prevail today. That may be true; it may also be appropriate in many Instances; however, at the End of the Day, we are still left with that relatively simple Document; the Constitution of the United States and one should be careful, we believe, not to equate Dynamism with Evisceration.
Snowden had originally wanted to go to Iceland but he appears to have changed his Mind and now wants to go to South America. He seems to have been influenced in this Decision by Julian Assange, of Wiki Leaks. Julian Assange himself has received Asylum in Ecuador but cannot get there; he is confined to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua (the Latter in Central America), seem to have offered him Asylum of one Sort or another but it is not easy for him to get there because any Commercial Flight might either have to fly through United States Air Space or be within reach of United States Jets which may force the Aircraft to land on United States Territory, thus effectively foiling Snowden's Escape. There has been much made of the Fact that Snowden cannot fly because his U. S. Passport has been revoked; this Point is of questionable Validity because any Country which offers Asylum to Snowden can also issue a Laissez Passer (a simple Travel Document, literally meaning, let this Person pass). People have and still do travel without a Passport (willingly and sometimes unwillingly) when extraordinary Conditions exist.
However, ultimately, we believe, the Fate of Mr. Snowden is not central to the Crux of this Issue.
So, moving on to the Second Aspect, it has been revealed that considerable Eavesdropping has taken place against Friends and Foe alike; Russia, Western European and South American Countries. Many of these Countries are furious over the Revelations and demanding Explanations, which may be slow in coming. This Issue, we believe, is not central to the Crux of the Issue, either. Espionage has taken place since Time immemorial, both against Friend and Foe alike. It is often a messy Business but everyone does it and everyone uses any and all Means at its Disposal to do it as best as possible. Nearly all Countries, if indeed, not all Countries, conduct Espionage at some Level or another and, whoever is best at it comes up with the best Scoops. Greeks did it, Persians did it, Romans did it, the French did it, moving along to more recent History, the Germans did it, the Allies did it and most certainly, the Chinese have done it all the Time and keep on doing it in the grandest of Styles. So, while it may sound like a dirty Business and it is, everybody does it and, thusly, nobody should be surprised by it. In the old Days, when caught, Spies were hanged or, as Things became more modern, shot; these Days, they are usually sent to Jail or traded for other Spies. At Times, Spy Trade become a flourishing Business, actually (Take, for Example, the Case of former Russian Spy Anna Chapman-yes, she is Russian, who supposedly even offered to marry Snowden).
Former Russian Spy Anna Chapman who was „traded”
To the Question, what is the central Crux of this Issue, we believe, the Answer is simple: based on Snowden's Revelations and other Information, one Needs to ask, what are the Powers and, indeed, the Boundaries of a Country (in this Case, the United States) to gather indiscriminate Information on most if not all of its Citizens.
http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/09/18863448-lawmakers-americans-dont-know-how-carefully-the-government-is-watching?lite
It is also interesting to note the evolving Role not only of the NSA but also of at least one Private Corporation, Booz Allen Hamilton, which was (perhaps it still is) a noted Accounting Firm (in plain English, Bookkeepers, Beancounters), which has gotten into a Business which does not have much (if anything at all) to do with Accounting. Sorta like Lawyers getting into Brain Surgery, one might say.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/15/18940842-growth-of-intel-outsourcing-no-secret-but-now-congress-taking-notice?lite
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/11/18901089-leaked-secrets-pose-a-risk-for-booz-allen-where-secrecy-means-billions?lite
President Obama correctly pointed out that one has to strike a Balance between Security and Privacy; the Question is, if this vast amount of Information which is being collected from the American Public markedly increases the Security of ordinary Americans and if so, by how much.
Recent Experiences, those in Communist Countries and other Dictatorships indicate that ultimately, total (or nearly total) gathering of Information from the Populace can be a suffocating Experience. According to the Explanations offered by James Clapper, the Information Gathering Activites of the NSA are not only legal but have been authorized by Congress.
Many disagree. A Reading of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Act,
http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/50C36.txt
does not, we don't think, lead all of us to reach the same Conclusion which Mr. Clapper (and others), seem to have reached. Many Congressmen were not familiar, if familiar at all, with everything that the NSA has been doing, even though Mr. Clapper assures us that every Member of Congress was debriefed on the Activites of the National Security Agency.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/07/18827047-who-is-behind-the-snooping-and-how-long-has-it-been-going-on?lite
Of Concern are also the Activities of the FISA Court, the secret Federal Court to which the NSA goes for Approval, although, we assume that they did not even have to go to the FISA Court for the broad intercepting Activities which appear to involve a huge Amount (if not most) of all Telephone Conversations and eMails.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/07/us/in-secret-court-vastly-broadens-powers-of-nsa.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130707
Constitutional Concerns have been raised on the Issue of the FISA Court (which most People did not even know existed, until recently), having non adversarial Proceedings and what Appeals, if any, can be made.
Of further Concern is the broad trawling of Data (which the Government calls Meta Data) which, as the Word Trawling suggest, is essentially nothing more than a Fishing Expedition. The Concern has been expressed that if one can use the Constitution to justify that Type of Activity (the Process has not been subject to Constitutional Review), then a Lot of other Things could conceivably be justified which otherwise, one might have been reluctant to justify.
It should further be noted, in this Context, that, according to recent Polls, most American People oppose this Kind of Wholesale Data Gathering, Meta Data, Trawling, Fishing Expedition, whatever one ultimately calls it.
The Constitution of the United States is a wonderful Document; it was written more than 200 Years ago by some brilliant People who could not have possibly imagined what the Country they were founding will some Day look like.
Many have argued that the Constitution should be treated as a dynamic Document, which is to say, a Document which should be interpreted in accordance with the changing and evolving Conditions which prevail today. That may be true; it may also be appropriate in many Instances; however, at the End of the Day, we are still left with that relatively simple Document; the Constitution of the United States and one should be careful, we believe, not to equate Dynamism with Evisceration.
