Snowden claims two-tiered justice system

""...Petraeus pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in 2015 for the mishandling of classified information. 

“And he shared this information not with the public for their benefit, but with his biographer and lover for personal benefit — conversations that had information, detailed information, about military special-access programs, that’s classified above top secret, conversations with the president and so on,” he added.

“He never spent a single day in jail, despite the type of classified information he exposed,” Snowden said.

Snowden has sought asylum in Moscow, as he faces felony charges in America for espionage."

http://thehill.com/homenews/308693-snowden-petraeus-disclosed-more-highly-classified-information-than-i-did

James Woolsey wants Snowden hanged

"A former CIA director [1993-1995] says leaker Edward Snowden should be convicted of treason and given the death penalty in the wake of the terrorist attack on Paris.

“It’s still a capital crime, and I would give him the death sentence, and I would prefer to see him hanged by the neck until he’s dead, rather than merely electrocuted,” James Woolsey told CNN’s Brooke Baldwin on Thursday.

Woolsey said Snowden, who divulged classified in 2013, is partly responsible for the terrorist attack in France last week that left at least 120 dead and hundreds injured.

“I think the blood of a lot of these French young people is on his hands,” he said."

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/260817-ex-cia-director-snowden-should-be-hanged-for-paris

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How strange that Snowden found asylum in Russia, and that  Russia and France are now allied against ISIS.

Snowden, Bruno, Leopold

"Snowden: I'd go to prison to return to the U.S."

"Edward Snowden says he has offered to return to the United States and go to jail for leaking details of National Security Agency programs to intercept electronic communications data on a vast scale."

Snowden told the BBC that he'd "volunteered to go to prison with the government many times," but had not received a formal plea-deal offer.

He said that "so far they've said they won't torture me, which is a start, I think. But we haven't gotten much further than that."

Could it be that Snowden is on Obama's pardon list?

(British) Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) Online Manipulation Tools: Snowden Leaked

"Some of the most interesting capabilities of the tools on the list include the ability to seed the web with false information — such as tweaking the results of online polls — inflating pageview counts, censoring video content deemed "extremist" and the use of psychological manipulation on targets — something similar to a research project conducted with Facebook's approval, which resulted in heavy criticism and outrage levied at the social media site."

A number of interesting tools and their short descriptions are below:

• ASTRAL PROJECTION: Remote GSM secure covert Internet proxy using TOR hidden service
• POISON ARROW: Safe malware download capability
• AIRWOLF: YouTube profile, comment and video collection
• BIRDSTRIKE: Twitter monitoring and profile collection
• GLASSBACK: Technique of getting a target's IP address by pretending to be a spammer and ringing them. Target does not need to answer.
• MINIATURE HERO: Active skype capability. Provision of realtime call records (SkypeOut and SkypetoSkype) and bidirectional instant messaging. Also contact lists.
• PHOTON TORPEDO: A technique to actively grab the IP address of MSN messenger user
• SPRING-BISHOP: Finding private photos of targets on Facebook
• BOMB BAY: The capacity to increase website hits, rankings
• BURLESQUE: The capacity to send spoofed SMS messages
• GESTATOR: Amplification of a given message, normally video, on popular multimedia websites (YouTube)
• SCRAPHEAP CHALLENGE: Perfect spoofing of emails from Blackberry targets
• SUNBLOCK: Ability to deny functionality to send/receive email or view material online
• SWAMP DONKEY: A tool that will silently locate all predefined types of file and encrypt them on a targets machine
• UNDERPASS: Change outcome of online polls (previously known as NUBILO).
• WARPATH: Mass delivery of SMS messages to support an Information Operations campaign.
• HUSK: Secure one-on-one web based dead-drop messaging platform.

The list, dated from 2012, says that most of the tools are "fully operational, tested and reliable,” and adds: "Don't treat this like a catalogue. If you don't see it here, it doesn't mean we can't build it."

We only advertise tools here that are either ready to fire or very close to being ready," the document notes.

via Instapundit

Video: Snowden Passions Still Burn

rieckhoff by tommyxtopher

 

"Things got rather testy during a discussion on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" Friday, after journalist Glenn Greenwald erupted at Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America founder Paul Rieckhoff while talking about Edward Snowden."

 

Is Snowden a whistleblower or a traitor? What should the United States, what should the Obama administration do about it?

The Wire: Edward Snowden Would 'Like to Go Home'

A round up of some of the highlights of the hour-long special:

On what he didn't take from the NSA: "I didn’t want to take information," Snowden said, "that would cause people to die."

On why he went to the media with the NSA's surveillance programs: Snowden told NBC that he raised concerns internally about the NSA's procedures before going to a journalist with the information, only after his attempts to reform the agency from the inside failed. NBC noted that they have at least one verified email from Snowden, to the General Counsel backing up his claims, and that the network has a pending FOIA request for more.

On whether he is "blameless:" In response to a question from Williams on how he views his own actions, Snowden said "I think the most important idea is to remember that there have been times throughout history where what is right is not the same as what is legal. Sometimes to do the right thing, you have to break a law. And the key there is in terms of civil disobedience." (read more)

Zero Hedge: "Vladimir Putin Nominated For Nobel Peace Prize"

"It would appear the Norwegian Nobel Institute is starting to lose it. Just a few years after President Obama won the Peace Prize (while mired in overseas wars), the director of the prestigious entity announced today that Russian President Vladimir Putin, accused of invading Ukraine - suspiciously un-peaceful action - has been nominated for the Peace Prize. Putin joins NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai as a nominee for the award to be announced in October." read more

I thought this was some kind of early April fools. It is not. It appears to be very real.

"Edward Snowden to Speak at SXSW Interactive Via Videoconference"

"On Monday, March 10 at 11:00 am, join us for a conversation between Edward Snowden and Christopher Soghoian, the principal technologist of the American Civil Liberties Union. The conversation will be focused on the impact of the NSA's spying efforts on the technology community, and the ways in which technology can help to protect us from mass surveillance. Hear directly from Snowden about his beliefs on what the tech community can and must do to secure the private data of the billions of people who rely on the tools and services that we build."

This session will be moderated by Ben Wizner, who is director of the ACLU's Speech, Privacy & Technology Project and Edward Snowden’s legal advisor. Audience members will have the opportunity to ask questions.

However, if you cannot be at SXSW Interactive on Monday, March 10 at 11:00 am CST, then you can watch a free livestream of the session courtesy of The Texas Tribune.

If you had the opportunity, what would ask Snowden?

I would ask Snowden for his thoughts on his obfuscating, neighbor invading, missile test lunching host, Vladimir Putin. But, maybe, I would not be allowed to ask that.

SXSW Interactive

Snowden, not so squeaky clean?

"In a jaw-dropping revelation on NBC’s Meet the Press, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Michigan) has stated that he believes the fugitive Edward Snowden had assistance from Russian spies when he stole vast amounts of sensitive U.S. security data and fled to Russia.

"Rogers told MTP host David Gregory: “Let me just say this: I believe there’s a reason he [Snowden] ended up in the hands, the loving arms, of an FSB [successor to the KGB] agent in Moscow. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.” Rogers added that some of the methods Snowden used in lifting National Security Agency secrets were “beyond his technical capabilities.”

Homeland Security Chair Echoes Rogers on Snowden via Instapundit

"Snowden cites Orwell in Christmas message"

"Speaking directly into the camera from Moscow, where he took refuge after leaking vast troves of information on NSA spying, Snowden said government surveillance methods far surpass those described in Orwell’s dystopic novel “1984.”

“The types of collection in the book — microphones and video cameras, TVs that watch us — are nothing compared to what we have available today. We have sensors in our pockets that track us everywhere we go,” he said. “Think about what this means for the privacy of the average person.”

New York Post via Drudge tweet (Read more for video)

"Obama says Snowden’s actions have “done unnecessary damage”"

"In his final press conference of the year, President Barack Obama told reporters on Friday that despite the fact that former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden’s disclosures have accelerated the national debate about national security and civil liberties, he has caused “unnecessary damage.”

“I think that as important and as necessary as this debate has been, it is also important to understand that it has done unnecessary damage to United States' intelligence capabilities and to US diplomacy,” he said. “But I will leave it up to the courts and the attorney general to weigh in publicly on the specifics of Mr. Snowden’s case.”

Setting aside, for now, Obama's use of the words "unnecessary damage", begging the question, is there a necessary damage to American interests? It turns out Snowden did not prominently feature in the list of Google's top searches for the year 2013.

This year's National Security Agency revelations have created a firestorm of reports and debates about the state of U.S. surveillance technology and intelligence policy. It set off a brief international manhunt. Entire countries are now building countermeasures to deflect the NSA's gaze. But at least in the eyes of Google, Edward Snowden was hardly a blip on the radar. The search giant's global year-in-review is topped by Nelson Mandela, followed by the late actor Paul Walker and the iPhone 5S. Snowden doesn't make an appearance.

Does a lack of public interest (at least among the giant search engine users) in Snowden and his actions, coupled with Obama's expressed public disinterest in the case, reveal Obamas attitude towards the "unnecessary damage" Snowden caused?
In other words. Had the public been more interested in Snowden, would Snowden be in American hands right now?

It's not necessary to look up "unnecessary", to safely discern Obama's use of the word in this case. Obama leads from behind. Obama is not going to make the case as to why Snowden may have damaged our security, because Snowden is "unnecessary" to HIS own security, and, he has Google to prove it.

Ars Technica, Washington Post

"Glenn Greenwald working on new NSA revelations"

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- Two American journalists known for their investigations of the United States' government said Saturday they've teamed up to report on the National Security Agency's role in what one called a "U.S. assassination program."

The journalists provided no evidence of the purported U.S. program at the news conference, nor details of who it targeted.

 

Jeremy Scahill, a contributor to The Nation magazine and the New York Times best-selling author of "Dirty Wars," said he will be working with Glenn Greenwald, the Rio-based journalist who has written stories about U.S. surveillance programs based on documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

 

For more click here AP

Snowden's work 'made world more stable than it was five years ago'

Video of President Obama's Address to the UN earlier today.

 

Obama: World More Stable Than Five Years Ago

 

Via The Corner

"Fugitive Snowden in running for European rights prize"

"Fugitive U.S. intelligence analyst Edward Snowden is in the running for a European human rights prize whose past winners include Nelson Mandela and Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi."

Snowden, who is in hiding in Russia, is one of seven nominations made by members of the European Parliament for the Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought, a move likely to upset Washington which wants to try him on espionage charges.

Snowden was nominated by the Greens in the European Parliament who said he had done an "enormous service" for human rights and European citizens by disclosing secret U.S. Internet and telephone surveillance programs.

"Edward Snowden has risked his freedom to help us protect ours and he deserves to be honored for shedding light on the systematic infringements of civil liberties by U.S. and European secret services," Rebecca Harms and Dany Cohn-Bendit, the leaders of the left-leaning Greens, said in a statement.

Reuters

""I thank the Russian Federation...

...for granting me asylum in accordance with its laws and international obligations."

(snip) Snowden already has been offered a job by Russia's top social networking site.

A pledge not to publish more information that could harm the United States was the condition under which Putin said Snowden could receive safe harbor. "Edward assured me that he is not planning to publish any documents that blacken the American government," [his lawyer] Kucherena said."

Reuters

Added: Lydia finds in USA Today:

Alexander Konovalov, president of the Moscow-based Institute of Strategic Studies and Analysis, in Moscow, said Snowden's presence in Russia creates "additional problems" in relations between the two countries.

He said Russia would lose face by handing Snowden over to U.S. authorities directly, "but to send him off somewhere eventually -- that would be in Russia's interests."