Is Edward Snowden a hero or a traitor?

Is Edward Snowden a hero or a traitor?

The case of Edward Snowden is a situation still going on today. When Snowden was young, he was not the best student, as he did not even get a high school diploma. However, he talent and interest in computing allowed him to gain a job at the CIA on IT security in 2007 and quickly rise up the ranks. In 2009, he left the CIA to join the NSA. Over time, however, Snowden began to realize the true nature of the U.S government and how much hidden surveillance it performed on its citizens. As an employee of the NSA as well as the U.S Government, he was able to see the various collections of data the U.S government had gained from spying and surveying. Snowden noticed how such actions deeply violated peoples' right of privacy as well as their Fourth Amendment rights, protection against unwarranted and unjustified searches. Sympathetic to the citizens of the United States, he decided to leak out some of these documents, mainly those from the surveillance program he had been working on, PRISM, in order to show Americans what was truly happening in the American government system (Wilmore 4).

His action was met with various responses (Krumboltz 2) and opinions that were quite close. In a poll, 59% of Americans found Snowden to be a respectable hero, while the other 49% found him to be a traitor (Raphael 4).Many citizens were horrified by the fact that they were constantly spied and surveyed on without their consent and considered Snowden a whistleblower, or informant, or even to an extent, hero. The U.S government officials obviously were not pleased about the idea of top secret government plans being suddenly sent out to the public and hurting their image. To the U.S government, their actions would have had justification, as surveillance can help identify any signs of terrorism or national danger. As a result, Snowden was be charged with a sentence of 30 years for leaking confidential government. In order to avoid this, Snowden fled to Hong Kong and later Russia. Snowden originally had plans to later seek asylum from South American countries such as Venezuela and Nicaragua; however, the U.S government soon revoked his passport and travel documents, leaving him stuck in Russia.

Snowden's number one supporter through his whole case would be the secret information distributor organization, Wikileaks. Despite the possible risks, Wikileaks still supported Snowden all the way with his actions, one action possibly being their common goals and views. This was shown when Wikileaks covered his expenses in Hong Kong and when Wikileaks member Sarah Harrison even accompanied Snowden from Hong Kong to Moscow during his run. Since she aided Snowden, she could not go back to her home in the United Kingdom, where she herself could possibly be arrested, and had no choice but to live in exile in Germany. When asked why she sacrificed so much, Harrison said,"For future Snowdens, we want to show there is an organization that will do what we did for Snowden — as much as possible — in raising money for legal defense and public advocacy for whistleblowers so they know if they come forward there is a support group for them.”(Jay 1) It simply shows that Snowden most likely will not be the only person who will leak federal information, and that there are most likely any other people in the world with similar views as him. In fact, it could be very likely that there are many people such as Snowden who have committed similar “federal crimes” and went unnoticed. If this were the case, is Snowden really the major issue to be focused on? It could be very possible that his “traitorous” acts aren't as extreme as they seem. His leaks tell us that the government seizes the phone logs of millions of Americans without any authority or warrant to do so, and that the NSA tracks user data from large sites (Raphael 2). Generally speaking, the U.S government betraying the very Constitution it promised to uphold. As Snowden himself stated, “These programs don't make us more safe. They hurt our economy. They hurt our country. They limit our ability to speak, think, live, and to be creative.” (Raphael 3)

At the same time, many people believe that Snowden is nothing more that a traitor who committed a terrible act of treachery. By becoming a worker of the U.S government, Snowden promised that he would safeguard the nations' secrets the moment he was employed. By leaking out some of the nation's important secrets, Snowden betrayed the trust that the government gave him. Society is dependent on trust. If all bankers, doctors, nurses, lawyers, and police officers were to live without trust, the society would filled with a bunch of individual sections where nobody can trust or help each other (Jay 14). According to successful millionaire Bill Gates, “I think he broke the law, so I certainly wouldn't characterize him as a hero. If he wanted to raise the issues and stay in the country and engage in civil disobedience or something of that kind, or if he had been careful in terms of what he had released, then it would fit more of the model of 'OK, I'm really trying to improve things.' You won't find much admiration from me (Guarini 3). Snowden may have taken the extreme side of the issue by suddenly revealing a portion of the nation's secret activities and attempting to disappear soon afterward. By all means, there may have been a better and more civilized option of trying to reform the govenment's operations. Because of this, some people may consider Snowden to be a coward for running away from his problem rather than being brave and facing them directly. Snowden claims to use the power of the Internet to expose the corruption and wrong-doing of totalitarian regimes. However, he has told us almost nothing about countries such as North Korea, Iran, China, Cuba and Venezuela. Instead, Snowden has spilled secrets from the countries that organize the peacekeeping and humanitarian missions, combat nuclear proliferation, champion human rights, fight terrorism and human trafficking, and hold free and fair elections. His actions have undercut the major world’s countries of freedom and given aid and comfort to the world’s totalitarian regimes.

In my opinion, Snowden is a hero. Casting away the fact that he committed a “federal crime”, Snowden is no different from anyone else. He is simply human. Humans are not perfect and can never have every single person in the world on their side. There will always be those who support him and those who oppose him. However, Snowden's “crime” was for a good cause and had good intentions. He only meant to help Americans regain some footing in the case of their own natural right of privacy. Although Snowden may appear to be quite cowardly for running away from his problems by traveling to foreign states for safety an seeking asylum, he does face a thirty year sentence in prison if he were to go back to the United States. As a man in his early thirties, he would be sixty by the time he would be able to leave, excluding the likely chance of long term probation or any additional sentences. While Snowden may seem to be viewed as a traitor and criminal by some, he was simply doing what he felt was right. Sometimes we must defy authority in order to do what is truly right, and what Snowden did may not necessarily be a hundred percent wrong. In a way, he was simply exercising his freedom of speech, only is a passive way. Through his actions of leaking the documents and from what he said from the interviews, Snowden simply wanted to express his belief that he felt what the government was doing was wrong. Since the Constitution does guarantee freedom of speech, Snowden may not have necessarily done something wrong.

Krumboltz, Mike. "Is Edward Snowden a Traitor or a Hero? The Debate Continues." Yahoo! News. Yahoo!, 17 Jan. 2014. Web. 6 Oct. 2014. <http://news.yahoo.com/is-edward-snowden-a-traitor-or-a-hero--the-debate-continues-200122522.html>.

-Wilmore, Kathy. "All Classroom Magazines." Hero or Traitor? Scholastic, 17 Mar. 2014. Web. 06 Oct. 2014. <http://magazines.scholastic.com/news/2014/03/Hero-or-Traitor>.

-Raphael, Daniel. "Why Edward Snowden Is a Hero." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 07 Nov. 2013. Web. 06 Oct. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-raphael/why-edward-snowden-is-a-h_b_4227605.html>.

-"Yes, Edward Snowden Is a Traitor." The Diplomat. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2014. <http://thediplomat.com/2013/12/yes-edward-snowden-is-a-traitor/>.

-Jay, James. "Snowden Is a Traitor in All but Name." The Heritage Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2014. <http://www.heritage.org/research/commentary/2014/1/snowden-is-a-traitor-in-all-but-name>.

-Goodman, Amy, and Juan Gonzalez. "Exclusive: WikiLeaks Editor Sarah Harrison on Helping Edward Snowden, Being Forced to Live in Exile." Democracy Now! N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2014. <http://www.democracynow.org/2014/7/1/exclusive_wikileaks_editor_sarah_harrison_on>.

-"Profile: Edward Snowden." BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2014. <http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-22837100>.

-Stone, Geoffrey R. "Edward Snowden: "Hero or Traitor"?" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 10 June 2013. Web. 06 Oct. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/geoffrey-r-stone/edward-snowden-hero-or-tr_b_3418939.html>.

-Goyette, Braden. "Edward Snowden Gets Permission To Stay In Russia For 3 More Years: Lawyer." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 07 Aug. 2014. Web. 05 Oct. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/07/edward-snowden-russia_n_5657481.html?utm_hp_ref=edward-snowden>.

-"Statement by Edward Snowden to Human Rights Groups at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport." Statement by Edward Snowden to Human Rights Groups at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. Wikileaks, n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2014. <https://wikileaks.org/Statement-by-Edward-Snowden-to.html>.

-Guarini, Drew. "Bill Gates: Edward Snowden Is No Hero." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 14 Mar. 2014. Web. 06 Oct. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/14/bill-gates-snowden_n_4964311.html>.

-Edwards-Levy, Ariel. "Americans Still Can't Decide Whether Edward Snowden Is A 'Traitor' Or A 'Hero,' Poll Finds." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 30 Oct. 2013. Web. 06 Oct. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/30/edward-snowden-poll_n_4175089.html>.