General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Two Different Mindsets at DU [View all]Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)I do not consider Snowden to be a whistle blower.
Whistle blowers expose specific abuses and crimes. I certainly consider Manning to be one, but not Snowden. Manning exposed a specific war crime.
The main program Snowden exposed is the metadata phone collection program. The problem is that we've known about that program since 2006 and Federal judges have signed off on those warrants. I do think metadata collection is overkill, but not illegal.
Pretty much all of Snowden's revelations since then have disclosed US espionage activities against foreign countries. This is certainly not illegal and the NSA/CIA were setup specifically for foreign surveillance.
Snowden's leaks are political in nature and aren't intended to affect policy changes IMO. Many of his leaks come out at interesting times. The recent leak about espionage in China came out when Michelle Obama was in China. The leak about spying against Brazil came out when the leader of Brazil was going to attend a state dinner at the White House. Similar circumstances when info about US/UK espionage against EU countries was leaked. Another leak about China came out when Obama was meeting with Chinese officials in California.
But the funny thing is, these activities are certainly not illegal or unconstitutional. They're intended to kneecap the Obama admin, nothing more.