Analysis: Snowden's options appear to narrow in bid to evade U.S. arrest [View all]

[ProSense]

Analysis: Snowden's options appear to narrow in bid to evade U.S. arrest

By Matt Spetalnick and Lidia Kelly

(Reuters) - Nearly a month after Edward Snowden exposed top secret U.S. surveillance programs, the former spy agency contractor looks no closer to winning asylum to evade prosecution at home - and his options appear to be narrowing.

Stuck in legal limbo in a Moscow airport transit area and facing uncertainty over whether any of the destinations he is said to be contemplating - Ecuador, Venezuela and Cuba - will let him in, Snowden seems to be at the mercy of geopolitical forces beyond his control.

Unseen in public since arriving in Moscow last weekend, much remains unclear about Snowden's overtures to various countries and how they have responded behind the scenes.

Russia may no longer have sufficient reason to continue harboring Snowden if, as is widely believed, its intelligence services have already questioned him about the classified documents that he has admitted to taking from the National Security Agency.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/29/us-usa-security-snowden-analysis-idUSBRE95S01D20130629

Snowden screwed up the minute he fled the country. He made this about him and his global tour to leak American state secrets to other countries, beginning with China (http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023034825). He then made the story his attempt to gain asylum. It was inevitable that the focus was going to be on him even as the NSA programs are being debated. He admits to cherry picking the data, and the information is rife with contradictions.

Greenwald's recent piece is completely misleading (http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023118372), and sometimes it seems Greenwald is more interested in trying to absolve Bush or create the impression that Obama is no different from Bush.

His latest piece is repackaging and conflating already reported claims to give the impression that there is something new here. He added a new document, but all it does is confirm what we already know.

• Secret program launched by Bush continued 'until 2011'
• Fisa court renewed collection order every 90 days
• Current NSA programs still mine US internet metadata

<...>

The documents indicate that under the program, launched in 2001, a federal judge sitting on the secret surveillance panel called the Fisa court would approve a bulk collection order for internet metadata "every 90 days". A senior administration official confirmed the program, stating that it ended in 2011.

<...>

Eventually, the NSA gained authority to "analyze communications metadata associated with United States persons and persons believed to be in the United States", according to a 2007 Justice Department memo, which is marked secret.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/27/nsa-data-mining-authorised-obama

The 90-day order was reported initially. The news that the program ended would make the initial claim that it was ongoing false.

Mentioning the memo, which actually shows that the procedures were being followed after they were put in places (http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023058210 ), creates the impression that it was simply a continuation of Bush's illegal data collection.

Conflating the metadata program with Stellar Wind, Bush's illegal eavesdropping program, is curious.

Remember whistleblower Thomas Tamm?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023032225

In addition to eavesdropping on Americans, the Bush admistration was collecting metadata illegally. Bush-Cheney had utter disregard for the law.

The program was in fact a wide range of covert surveillance activities authorized by President Bush in the aftermath of 9/11. At that time, White House officials, led by Vice President Dick Cheney, had become convinced that FISA court procedures were too cumbersome and time-consuming to permit U.S. intelligence and law-enforcement agencies to quickly identify possible Qaeda terrorists inside the country. (Cheney's chief counsel, David Addington, referred to the FISA court in one meeting as that "obnoxious court," according to former assistant attorney general Jack Goldsmith.) Under a series of secret orders, Bush authorized the NSA for the first time to eavesdrop on phone calls and e-mails between the United States and a foreign country without any court review. The code name for the NSA collection activities—unknown to all but a tiny number of officials at the White House and in the U.S. intelligence community—was "Stellar Wind."

http://web.archive.org/web/20081216011008/http://www.newsweek.com/id/174601/output/print

Here's How the NSA Decides Who It Can Spy On
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023060180

Then along comes Assange, who played Snowden supporters. He had everyone waving a fake document. Now letters and declarations based on that document are now moot.

The entire episode has become a farce (http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3124575).

Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon says his legal team won’t represent NSA leaker Edward Snowden
http://upload.democraticunderground.com/10023101737

The Errors of Edward Snowden and His Global Hypocrisy Tour
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023112872

Ecuador has no plans to halt commerce ties over Snowden: Correa
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023114551

Ecuador threatens legal action against leaker of invalid travel document for Snowden
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023114430

Ecuador cools on Edward Snowden asylum as Assange frustration grows
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023119831

Ecuadoran President Ego Checks Ecuardoran Co-President Julian Assange
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/06/28/1219722/-Ecuadoran-President-Ego-Checks-Ecuardoran-Co-President-Julian-Assange