N.S.A. Leaker Leaves Hong Kong on Flight to Moscow(surname Harrison?)

New York Time ^ | 06/23/2013 | By KEITH BRADSHER and ELLEN BARRY

[dragnet2]

I would rather he come home and face the music. He first runs to China then Moscow? I have an uneasy feeling about this in general.

Your own government has gone tens of hundreds of billions into debt with Communist China..and sent a great percentage of U.S. manufacturing there.

How uneasy does that make ya?

[dragnet2]

How about coming home and face the music. He made a choice to expose this. I would have more respect for him.

He ratted out a corrupt government who was illegally monitoring and spying on law abiding U.S. citizens...

Would you risk your life coming back here?

[RetSignman]

Where in the world is Matt Lau...I mean Snowden?

[caww]

His choice was to work for our Government or Assange...he choose.. calling himself ...”a citizen of the world”.

Assange will continue assisting Snowden...for a price...that of all the documents he has which Assange wants.

Had he cared about this country he would have found other ways to reveal what he had....even his mother, who works in the Government, stated so.

[SpaceBar]

Chinese inscrutability. Their press release is a masterpiece. ..

Agreed.

[GOPJ]

“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family?Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?... The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If...if...We didn't love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation.... We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Should be required reading...

[dragnet2]

Feel free to answer the question.

[wku man]

"i had never seen one instance of US Persons being targeted WITHOUT a warrant. I’ve never seen one instance of US Persons being targeted WITH a warrant."

Not to disparage your service, but I'm pretty sure there was a lot that went on that you didn't know about...unless you're the former director of one of the alphabet soup organizations, that is.

Jefferson warned us to jealously guard our freedom (including the 4th Amendment), which is why it is wise for all Americans to assume if the government can do something to spy on us, they are doing it.

Gov. Butch Otter of Idaho, back in 2001 when he was a US Representative, was one of only three Republicans who voted against the so-called "Patriot Act". I'll never forget his words when asked why; he said it was too much power for the government to have. Right on, Butch.

So while I thank you for your service, your assurances that you never saw any wrongdoing going on, well, they're not reassuring. At best, it's naive, and at worst, it's pi**ing on my leg and telling me it's raining.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[Ax]

I never claimed that I knew everything that is going on at the Agency. I stand by my statement that that never went on to my knowledge. For all my 33 years I was involved in organizations that were tasked with “collection.” It would’ve been very difficult for operations directed against US persons to stay hidden from us for very long. I’m not saying it didn’t happen; I’m only saying that operators who would be involved in that wouldn’t be known to the professional cadre.

[EricT.]

Pardon me, but by “Agency” do you mean CIA or NSA?

IIRC, CIA is only allowed to focus on foreign matters.

I don’t know if the NSA even knows or cares what they can and cannot do.

[Ax]

I mean NSA.

I’m not sure that your last sentence deserves a witty comeback.

[lormand]

"Were would you go, big guy?"

If his actions are righteous, then stay and fight.

[null and void]

Keep reading...

[EricT.]

The fact that they are spying on American citizens without a warrant in direct violation of the 4th Amendment proves my point just fine, thank you. And yes, they admitted to listening in on people’s phone calls.

[Ax]

Well, then, maybe we should just disband the Agency, prosecute all employees, and let the world unfold as it will.

[EricT.]

I never said that. I said what they are doing is wrong.

And we both know whoever planned, ordered, and executed this unconstitutional monstrosity of a program will not face ANY consequences. Such is they way with the Ruling Class in DC.

BTW, thank you for your service. I’m sorry the agency you used to work for went off the rails and cast a dark cloud over all the good work you have done in the past. I’m sure the NSA still has plenty of good guys in its ranks, and they were probably kept out of the loop on this BS.

[Ax]

Eric, I will be forever proud of my service with the Agency. A couple of Directors ago, it was decided to lift the veil of secrecy somewhat. An adjacent building now houses an NSA museum, along with a gift shop. Every time I go up there, I stop by and buy a new t-shirt or cap, all of which I wear with a great deal of pride, as do my boys, with whom I get together every year to tell war stories and do a lot of drinking. Thank you for your kind thoughts.

[piasa]

Maybe he is the cover for all the materials Sandy Berger stole for the Clintons and Stonebridge, to explain how the Russians and Chinese really obtained them..