What is a
patriot? My 1996 edition of my Merriam
Webster’s Collegiate dictionary describes a patriot as “one who loves his or
her country and supports its authority and interests”. What is a traitor? My handy dictionary defines a traitor as “one
who betrays another’s trust or is false to an obligation or duty.” Is Snowden a patriot or a traitor? During the televised interview with
Brian Williams Snowden said that he was a patriot. My personal definition and that of my
dictionary certainly don’t jive with Snowden's assessment.
Looking back
a bit at the facts… Snowden exceeded his
authority to access and retrieve information that he did not have authority to
access or possess. Snowden didn’t just
take them home, he gave this classified and sensitive information to foreign
governments. In May of 2013 Snowden
packed his bags and took all the information he gathered and went to Hong Kong
where he met with journalists to reveal his treasure trove of documents. When the information was made public the U.S.
Department of Justice charged Snowden with two counts of violating the
Espionage Act and the State Department revoked his passport. He ended up in Russia, where he sits today
hoping to return to the United States.
Snowden
remarked that his definition of a patriot was someone who regards him or
herself as a defender of individual rights against presumed interference by the
federal government. This must be a new
age definition. It’s a mangled
definition and one that defies the oath that members of the military and
federal employees take. When problems
arise there are ways to find resolution.
I won’t pretend that every reaction ends in a manner that every party
finds 100% happiness from. The fact is
that providing classified data to other countries would never meet my
definition of a patriot.
Is Snowdens dilemma
unique? No. Look at Nelson Mandella. Mandella fought against apartheid (where the basic
rights of nonwhite were unfairly restricted) using non-violent means including
boycotts, strikes and civil disobedience.
He was arrested, tried and spent 27 years in prison for his effort. I see Nelson Mandella’s efforts to be more
heroic.
It should
come as no surprise that every country performs intelligence gathering. Why?
To determine where threats are within their borders. It may not be surprising to many that these
countries also use electronic means to gather intelligence about what other
countries are doing. They also send
spies to other countries to live, side by side with other citizens to gather
information. The work of the NSA is no
different from what goes on in any other country.
Should the US
stop gathering intelligence? No. Without a doubt there are threats to the well-
being of our country and her citizens. The
day we lay down our arms and stop defending our borders we lose.
Snowden is a
traitor. IF he was a patriot he would
never have considered giving our secrets away and he would be here to face the
music.
