I am sick and tired of seeing posts defending Snowden..so here is my side

[BeyondGeography]

66. A lot of people here don't take national security seriously enough

as a political issue. Which is pretty amazing, given the history. I've been watching and reading about presidential campaigns since 1968, and last year was the first time a Democrat had a clear edge on national security. It's a huge advantage for our side, particularly when our domestic positions poll so much better than the opposition's and it's vital that it continue.

The other thing that is routinely minimized is the terrorist threat and the huge costs of an attack, which start with the victims and go all the way up to increased fear and hatred around the world. It has been 12 years since 9/11 and complacency sets in, which is normal. But it should be clear that this President, or any President, looks at keeping the nation safe as the top priority, so there's a natural gap between what the White House thinks it needs along those lines and what the average citizen is willing to give up in the way of privacy. There's a discussion to be had if we are to begin to bridge that gap, and there are the courts, where the notion of using state secret privilege to deny the open vetting of information requests is being challenged, and rightly so.

Snowden is/was almost wholly unnecessary to the process. As a symbol for transparency, he is a nightmare, having schemed from the get-go in his job at Booz and then running away to enemy territory and flipping secrets in exchange for who knows what. I don't know what kind of damage he has done to our security. As a hero, though, his 15 minutes are nearing an end, IMO.