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Clapter's Argument Analysis

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Furthermore, the disclosure disaffirms the authenticity and credibility of government officials’ testimony. While a few months ago the director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, denied that the NSA collects any type of data, General Alexander, the director of the NSA, also rejected that the agency could intercept online communications (Cassidy “Why Edward” par.10). After comparing Clapper and Alexander to Snowden, Cassidy argues that Clapper and Alexander should face charges of misleading Congress. The falsity of officials’ statement distinguishes Snowden as “a man of conscience”, who should be excused and hailed as a hero (Cassidy “Why Edward” par.12).
On the other hand, Toobin refutes Cassidy’s statement, claiming that Snowden is …show more content…

The article calls for the US government to offer a plea or some forms of clemency to Snowden, and the author makes the claim because they believe that the NSA exceeded its mandate and abused authority. In this article, these writers maintain that Snowden deserves better than a life of permanent exile through emphasizing “the enormous value” of the information he has revealed (The Editorial Board par.4). Snowden’s disclosure is valuable since it divulges that “government officials have routinely and deliberately broken the law” (The Editorial Board par. 17). As the article said, the NSA’s operation breaks federal privacy laws, exceeds its authority, systematically undermines the basic encryption systems of the Internet, and probably violates the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution (The Editorial Board par. 11-15). These illegal actions make it impossible for the public to know if there are truly privacy on the internet, damaging trust on which sensitive banking and online business are build, and weakening the trust between government and its …show more content…

He denies the idea that Snowden should be pardoned, owing to his supportive opinion about the NSA’s operations overall. Though Kaplan agrees that the surveillance of American citizens possibly needs some sorts of reforms, he maintains that the collection of emails and phone calls from other non-allied countries is proper. From his perspective, the interception of communicating information and the hacking of computer of Pakistan and China “have nothing to do with domestic surveillance or even spying on allies. They are not illegal, improper, or immoral” (Kaplan par.4-5). This different point of view about domestic and international spying directs Kaplan to make his judgment of Snowden. Kaplan admits that an offer of leniency is worth discussing if all of the information Snowden stole only involves domestic surveillance. However, Kaplan suggest that Snowden did more than that, and the revealing of legal government operations should lead him to face

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518 Words | 3 Pages

For example, Edward Snowden exposed the National Security Agency for eavesdropping on Americans and people around the world, despite the possibility of being arrested and charged with heavy crimes. " So, what did the leaks tell us? First, they confirmed that the U.S. government, without obtaining any court warrants, routinely collects the phone logs of tens of millions, perhaps hundreds of millions, of Americans, who have no links to terrorism whatsoever,"(Source 3). The question is who is truly at fault? The government for doing that or Snowden for ratting them out to the public about

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894 Words | 4 Pages

Snowden demonstrated the same beliefs as those stated in “Blue’s Ain’t No Mockin Bird.” As Bambara demonstrated through the use of symbolism and metaphor, and as Marlon Brando stated, privacy should not be given to a select few, but rather should be given to

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676 Words | 3 Pages

As Mr. Cusick stated, what Edward Snowden failed to disclose or fail to see was the whole picture. He was not privileged to see how some aspects of information fit with others. With or without this understanding, Snowden painted a grim picture of NSA’s practices regarding the privacy millions of citizens. By doing so, he severely damaged the nations intelligence gathering capability and put the lives of many at

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790 Words | 4 Pages

The case against Edward Snowden is strong. He acted with recklessness and possible self-serving convenience; even so, by shedding light on the invasive government actions taken to deal with terrorism, Snowden did his country a service, demanding accountability from a branch of the government that has been given free reign because of our post-9/11 fears. Still the fear persists that a society that accepts challenges to laws also insights anarchy (Leibman). This argument quickly falls flat: civil disobedience is action taken to fulfill a worthy higher principle, not just a means to benefit oneself. The intricacies of this were exposed when the acting Attorney General refused to allow the Justice Department to defend President Trump’s travel ban until its constitutionality could be affirmed.

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541 Words | 3 Pages

The “Nothing-to-Hide Argument” Analyzed: In this rhetorical analysis, I will be taking a look at Daniel J. Solove’s essay “The Nothing-to-Hide Argument,” which is about privacy in the context of personal information and government data collection (Solove 734). Solove’s main argument in his essay is that the general public has a narrow perception of what privacy really is. The purpose behind his main argument is to expose the problems with the nothing-to-hide argument while presenting a way to challenge it for his target audience, government officials. Solove’s argument to his target audience is effective through his exemplary use of substance, organization, and style in his essay.

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781 Words | 4 Pages

With Edward Snowden's NSA leaks, this issue was brought into relief. Was he full of moral superiority over a gray issue, or was he "that most awkward and infuriating of creatures-- a man of conscience," as John Cassidy wrote in his article "Why Edward Snowden is a Hero." Because, while Jeffrey Toobin wrote in "Edward Snowden is No Hero" that Snowden's leak was cemented in grandiose narcissism over an issue American citizens should have already digested, wasn't it after his leak that there arose an uproar over the NSA activities, which inevitably placed a modicum of agency back in the hands of the American people? I still wonder whether my perspective would be the same had Snowden released files which did more lasting harm to national security. But in that case, would that activism now be violent, instead of

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190 Words | 1 Pages

However, this statement is problematic based on numerous documents and statements released on the behalf of NSA overseers, who encourage analyst to provide less information in their reports. In addition, the NSA states that ethics and the constitution

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1280 Words | 6 Pages

Snowden, who was a computer systems contractor, worked for the National Security Agency and revealed to the public how the American Government was spying on its own citizens and foreigners. Snowden was committed to the truth which allowed him to reason and understand the difference between what is right and what is legal. Snowden was convinced that the truth requires an individual to do the right thing and not necessarily what is legal. However, doing the right thing could sometimes require an individual to break the law.

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885 Words | 4 Pages

In June of 2013, Edward Snowden released documents revealing the National Security Association, surveillance programs. Edward Snowden brought about great debates on whether the NSA is correct in doing these surveillance programs on citizens, tracking them through technology. The NSA collects data through cell phones, messaging, social media, applications on phones, intercept photos, and many more ways reported by New York Public Radio. Our group decided to survey the class on basic information about the NSA, their attitudes towards it and possible policy changes.

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554 Words | 3 Pages

The intelligence community should continue to release as much as it possibly can about surveillance programs without compromising sources and methods—even if they have not been leaked. Given Snowden’s widespread public acclaim, coming clean about such controversial intelligence programs is not just good government, but also provides the surest way to preserve vital intelligence capabilities. With greater transparency, intelligence agencies can stay one step ahead of future leakers and earn back the trust of a skeptical public. The United States should also pivot from

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1358 Words | 6 Pages

Gjelten, Tom. " The Effects Of The Snowden Leaks Aren 't What He Intended."  NPR. NPR, 20 Sept. 2013. Web. 15 Mar. 2017.

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563 Words | 3 Pages

Despite this, Snowden is seen as many as a brave man or even a hero. With the nature of the ethical violation, it is to no surprise that the

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2867 Words | 12 Pages

Introduction The actions undertaken of Edward Snowden, the well-known former NSA fugitive who had leak tons of sensitive information from National Security Agency, NSA since 2013 had left a catastrophic impact towards the citizens across the globe as people had been aware that personal privacy conducted on today’s technology communication channels are not truly encrypted, which it leads to the actions where citizens are “losing confidence and trust upon the local and international government especially NSA”(Schneier, 2013) towards monitoring and intercepting the day-to-day communications that invades the citizen’s privacy space. As today’s world is entering a new state of global hyper-surveillance, personal privacy is a truly subjective area

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833 Words | 4 Pages

He focuses on the aspects on why Snowden’s actions are against the laws of the US government and the contract he has signed at his workplace NSA: “Any government employee or contractor is warned repeatedly that the unauthorized disclosure of classified information is a crime.” By noting this he accuses Snowden of breaking the law he has signed as a government employee. He has not only broken the law, but also put the security of the government at risk: “As a result, all of Snowden’s secrets may wind up in the hands of the Chinese government” This quote indicates, that the leaked information is critical and may have bad consequences if it ends in the wrong hands. By saying “Snowden’s secrets” indicates that there 's more the public does not know about. To empathize that he made the wrong decision he explains what Snowden could have done about the situation bothering him: “they can try to protest within the institutions where they work.”

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1471 Words | 6 Pages

The main issue in the Snowden controversy is the conflicting rights of private individuals and the US government with regard to the use of telecommunications and the internet. There are ethical issues surrounding this controversy and the most applicable ethical approach for this case is “Ethics by Rights Approach”. As a background, the reason why US government had declared Edward Snowden a traitor is his involvement in the leaking of about 1.7 million confidential US documents, 15,000 Australian intelligence files and 58,000 British intelligence files from the National Security Agency (or NSA) to the public. These confidential information were acquired by the NSA through the PRISM program by collaborating with big internet companies such

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