In an open-to-the-public live chat on The Guardian’s website on Monday, Edward Snowden, the self-proclaimed source of recently leaked top secret National Security Agency documents, called on President Barack Obama to be the President “who looked into the abyss and stepped back.”
Snowden detailed several steps he would like Obama to take, and said the documents he revealed provide the President with “an opportunity to appeal for a return to sanity, constitutional policy, and the rule of law rather than men.”
“He still has plenty of time to go down in history as the President who looked into the abyss and stepped back, rather than leaping forward into it,” Snowden said. “I would advise he personally call for a special committee to review these interception programs, repudiate the dangerous “State Secrets” privilege, and, upon preparing to leave office, begin a tradition for all Presidents forthwith to demonstrate their respect for the law by appointing a special investigator to review the policies of their years in office for any wrongdoing. There can be no faith in government if our highest offices are excused from scrutiny – they should be setting the example of transparency.”
