On a national level our political leaders are desperate to get Edward Snowden in custody. He is accused of violating American espionage laws by leaking information to the Washington Post and the Guardian about U.S. spying on its own citizens. But if invading our privacy without benefit of a search warrant is the real issue here, what crime has Mr. Snowden committed?
The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
A recent Guardian article claimed that, by a top-secret government order (approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court), Verizon was required to hand over millions of Americans' phone records to the National Security Agency. This was followed by a story from the Washing Post which claimed not only has the government been keeping an eye on whom we call, when, and how long we talk to them, but it's also been tapping into the servers of nine major U.S. Internet companies and collecting emails, photos, videos, documents and other user activities.
NSA claims they are not "listening" to any conversations because the "FISA" court order requires the phone numbers and location data for both parties on a given call, its duration, and the time it was made - but the actual content of the conversation is not included. Really?
Another Guardian article: "Behold the NSA's Dark Star: the Utah Data Center" points out that billions have gone into creating a Bluffdale, Utah based cyber-intelligence facility. There is no official explanation for the real mission of this data center, except it's the largest of a network of data farms including sites in Colorado, Georgia and Maryland. The Guardian article concludes, "it is obvious this facility will vastly increase the NSA's capacity to suck in, digest, analyze, and store whatever the intelligence community decides to collect."
The nightmarish "1984" by George Orwell comes to mind when considering the implications of government surveillance activities. Currently on CBS, there is a fictional program called "Person of Interest" which features a sophisticated surveillance system to prevent crime but also reveals the existence of another ultra-secret government spy program. The disturbing reality is an ultra-secret surveillance of American citizens may not be fiction.
A republican contingent complains this is a problem caused by the Obama administration when, in fact, the whole issue began immediately following the 9-11 disaster when President Bush pushed for the infamous "Patriot Act" which allowed virtually un-restricted wire-tapping of anyone suspected of being a terrorist. Additionally, the Executive Branch was authorized to arrest and imprison, without charge, those accused of terrorism, and take them to a foreign land for interrogation without due process of law. To quote a part of the Fifth Amendment: ". . .no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law. . ."
The "Whistleblower" legislation was designed to protect anyone engaged in exposing misconduct, alleged dishonest or illegal activity occurring in an organization. This alleged misconduct may be classified as a violation of a law, rule, regulation and/or a direct threat to public interest. One could argue Snowden's efforts fall under provisions of this legislation, and he should be afforded some protection under the Whistleblower law.
Of course, Mr. Snowden appears reluctant to push for protection as a whistleblower because there is a possibility he might be termed a terrorist and hauled off to a foreign land and deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.