Snowden and many others have now said that these leaks are important and justified because the public needs to decide whether this is done in their name. Basically I disagree with that (the justification for the leak). But it does raise a basic point that it is inherently difficult for the public to make fully informed decisions about intelligence work done in its name. Yet, who gets to do this? Snowden says it’s up to the public. But it’s really more like Snowden and Greenwald have made that decision on the public’s behalf.
TPM Reader LF has some similar thoughts. I don’t agree with all of it. And he loses me on some of the points toward the end. But I’m on the same page on this basic point …
There is a lot of conversation at TPM, and around the world, about NSA intelligence programs, etc., which has come to light lately in issues about leaks of information and documents. But the announcement by the 29-year old Edward Snowden that he leaked the classified documents brings up a very important issue–who gets to leak this type of information.
I don’t agree with his take. But some interesting thoughts on the Snowden story from James Fallows.
One point Fallows raises is the folly of creating a system that one dissenting or disgruntled employee can so easily upend. There’s a word for this in the intelligence world: compartmentalization. We don’t know yet just the breadth of access Snowden had. What he claimed in the video seems a little far-fetched. But clearly he had enough to release things that Intel Community finds very damaging. That’s another dimension to this story. Setting aside the issue of people who may leak to the press, intelligence agencies are always prey to counter-espionage. A lot of questions to be asked there.