Snowden's weasel ways by Frank Snepp (ex-spy)

[mimi85]

I was the Snowden of my day, a disaffected ex-spy who rocked the security community. But I took my lumps.

Granting Edward Snowden clemency, as many have urged, would send a terrible message to other potential whistle-blowers. Yes, he may have sparked an important national privacy debate, but he did so through reprehensible actions that harmed national security.

FOR THE RECORD:

Whistle-blowers: A Jan. 31 Op-Ed about Edward Snowden referred to a secret court founded in 1968 to police NSA programs. The U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court was established in 1978.

If that's a harsh verdict, I have earned the right to it. In terms of sheer media hype, I was the Snowden of my day, a disaffected ex-spy who, in the late 1970s and early '80s, rocked the security community by publishing a memoir about intelligence failures I'd witnessed as a CIA officer during the last years of the Vietnam War. I did so only after the agency backhanded my repeated requests for an in-house review of our mistakes and refused to help me or anyone else rescue Vietnamese allies abandoned during the evacuation of Saigon.

Government prosecutors never accused me of betraying classified secrets. But in 1980, the Supreme Court decided that I had "irreparably harmed" national security by publishing my book without official approval, in violation of CIA nondisclosure agreements. This, the court said, harmed the government's ability to prevent serious leaks.
The ruling left me destitute, stigmatized and gagged for life, required to clear with the CIA all my spy-related writings, including this one, with the threat of jail time if I screw up. The 1st Amendment also took a hit with the rulings in my case. Now, all intelligence alumni, Snowden included, can be severely punished for merely speaking out about their work, regardless of whether what they say contains any classified information.
Yet, for all that I suffered personally, I never ran or tried to hide. And when the time came to face the music, I never bargained for mercy. I simply took my lumps, accepting them as the price we pay in a democracy for the right to speak out.

Read the rest below:

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/commentary/la-oe-snepp-snowden-nsa-20140131,0,2997528.story#axzz2s5sCRjXD

[riderinthestorm]

1. Snepp's time was the 70s and 80s, long before Chelsea Manning and her fate

I love the fact that Snepp has to acknowledge that the Admin is trying to spin the problems with the FISA courts.

"Yet as we have learned from other recent disclosures — largely official counter-leaks — the secret court created in 1968 to police NSA programs has been working diligently, if too secretly, to fulfill its mission."

American citizens can now be droned without a trial, with full sanction by our President. Snepp lived in a different era and thus can't say that Snowden's situation was/is "exactly" like him.

Snepp's just bitter that his life has sucked despite his righteous actions. And that Snowden's life might not suck like his.

[mimi85]

2. I wasn't aware that an American

citizen was droned. Must have missed that bit of bad news. Hey, don't shoot the messenger - send an email to Snepp.