"No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA and the US Surveillance State”

[Purveyor]

September 10, 2014

Glenn Greenwald’s Book “No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA and the US Surveillance State” reads like a blockbuster movie! The subject was the US intelligence analyst who fled first to Hong Kong, and then Russia, revealing details of US electronic spying on citizens, foreigners, corporations and world leaders; the author, Greenwald was one of his “partners”, the Guardian journalist who published Snowden’s revelations.

The 260 page book details how Greenwald met Snowden; the crucial ten days in Hong Kong where they plotted the explosive release of highly sensitive US security material; the scope and depth of US surveillance; argues against excessive surveillance and in favour of privacy and liberty; and closes with a focus on how the fourth estates (the “corporate media” he calls it) fails in its duty to the people.

Greenwald was a constitutional and civil right lawyer, who became a blogger in 2005 alarmed at “the radical and extremist theories of power the US government had adopted in the wake of 9/11” and shocked at revelations about “warrantless eavesdropping” by the US National Security Agency on electronic communications of Americans. He then became a columnist for the Guardian and bestselling author. It was this background that prompted Snowden to choose Greenwald as his first contact person for revealing NSA wrong doing.

Not surprisingly considering his collaboration with Snowden, but credibly given the stated facts, Greenwald paints a positive picture of the leaker and his motivations –the care and discretion Snowden took in selecting his collaborators particularly Greenwald and Laura Poitras; his meticulous execution; his deep and heartfelt concern about “dangerous trends in US State secrecy, radical executive power theories, detention and surveillance abuses, militarism, and the assault on civil liberties” which he shared with Greenwald and Poitras; and release of only what he felt US citizens needed to know without betraying America to its enemies.Snowden’s mission statement, “The true measurement of a person’s worth isn’t what they say they believe in, but what they do in defense of those beliefs, if you’re not acting on your beliefs, then they probably aren’t real” provided the ultimate illumination on why he gave up a prized career and went to great lengths at significant personal risk, to leak the NSA spying allegations!I look forward to the affair and the book been converted into an epic thriller film- the layers of precautions by the main characters, the stealth mission to Hong Kong; the bombshell unleashed as Snowden’s revelations were published, his escape to Moscow, and global reactions to the allegations!!!

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http://businessdayonline.com/2014/09/no-place-to-hide/#.VA-tvKOSXK4

[AuntPatsy]

1. He is not a traitor in my eyes and would be foolish to ever come back here

[Thinkingabout]

2. Snowden has chosen his path, he must live it now.

[enough]

3. I found the book to be fascinating, gripping, and informative.

I thought I was fairly well informed on the subject, but I learned a lot reading the book, and the overall conclusion is that the situation is far worse than I thought.