Edward Snowden: Point/Counterpoint

Ray Trygstad — Fri, 18 Apr 2014 19:52:10 +0000

My friend and colleague Bill Slater did a presentation before an overflow crowd on Edward Snowden at IIT’s ForenSecure ’14 conference this morning. In his truly excellent and well researched talk, Bill echoed some opinions of the NSA and members of the Congressional Intelligence Oversight Committees as to the “extreme dangers to national security” posed by Snowden’s disclosure’s about the NSA’s abuses. I felt compelled to offer a counterpoint to Bill’s position on some things in his presentation so I stood up and presented my view that Snowden is a genuine whistleblower who has cast a sharp and bright light on systemic and gross abuses of the Fourth Amendment by the NSA. I also pointed out that Snowden is only in Russia because he was in transit when the U.S. revoked his passport, and that all of the data in his possession was turned over to journalists before he left Hong Kong. Finally I discussed how seriously I take my oath to the Constitution, and how disgusted I am by those at the NSA who have taken the same and have abrogated that Oath so egregiously. It was a good session, a good discussion, and despite the appearance of dispute, Bill and I are still friends!

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Edward Snowden: Point/Counterpoint