Edward Snowden's Challenge to Obama

A nine minute long video, an interview with The Guardian, a chat with The Washington Post… Before disappearing into his hotel in Hong Kong, Edward Snowden left a complete testament, aspects of which have still not been fully explored — for example, we wonder about the “secret facility” at the University of Maryland in which Snowden reportedly started work as a security guard.

The press has found Snowden’s parents. His mother works in information technology at a Baltimore court house. His father did not want to be filmed. The media are reporting that the young spy never graduated high school, and that his career does not match up with the privileged access he was granted. But he seems to be one of the “geeks” that the National Security Agency hired en masse after the attacks of 9/11.

Even without a high school diploma, Edward Snowden expressed himself with political and philosophical overtones that show he had thought about his actions.

At some points he expresses shocking truths: “You could shut down the surveillance system [NSA] in an afternoon.” Other times, the simplicity of his speech is moving: “I’m just another guy,” he said. A normal guy who wants to allow “the public” to decide what kind of society they want — not the government. His greatest fear, he said, is that “nothing will change.”

Snowden’s actions present a real challenge to Barack Obama. Snowden didn’t vote for the Democratic candidate in 2008. He was rather more in favor of Ron Paul, like all young libertarians, but he supported Obama after his election. He was disappointed that the president did not oppose the military-security complex.

In the memory of the analyst, nobody has ever claimed responsibility for a leak of this size, and never with a gesture so radical as going abroad. This “betrayal” adds a whole new dimension to the affair. Not only did Snowden provide proof to the world that the big ears (of Obama) have, in a sense, been listening to all electronic conversations — he left the country. He snuggled up to China, as if he was already ready to switch over.

Republican Peter King already considers him a “defector.” The majority of the political class has called on the government to proceed with greatest severity, demanding his immediate extradition.

“The efforts to make him a hero, I think, are going to fall flat,” proclaimed Jeremy Bash, assistant to Democrat Leon Panetta, writer of the amendments that legalized these programs. A man who makes such revelations and then runs for the border is “not a whistleblower.” Only Republican libertarians and the progressive left want a debate.

Edward Snowden unveiled two programs: One based on Article 215 of the Patriot Act authorizing mass surveillance of American telephone lines. As Barack Obama has repeated, conversations have not been listened to. Americans can rest assured.

The other (PRISM), based on Article 720, authorizes phone taps, surveillance of Facebook messages, videos, etc. In this case however, only foreigners were targeted. The law had been renewed in December. “No American is targeted,”* confirm defenders of the program.

For Americans, this discrimination is normal. As with drone attacks, the Constitution is only violated when Americans are targeted. In the eyes of the rest of the world, this is not clear logic.

Due to Snowden’s revelations, the rest of the world has witnessed America’s double standards. It’s OK to spy on billions of people without a warrant, as long as they’re not Americans.

After the invasion of Iraq, the election of Barack Obama was necessary for the U.S. to project a certain aura in the world. Edward Snowden’s revelations present a risk to the soft power that the American president worked to restore.

Snowden hid himself away, simultaneously raising the question: Whose “biscuits” did he save? On CNN, The Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald indicated that he knew where the young man was. He confirmed, “We do have big stories coming.”*

The mise en scene of the coming out of this young spy had been well prepared. A video chat, a room in a hotel close to the CIA aerial in Hong Kong: all the elements of a spy novel came together. When he switched on his computer, Snowden hid the screen with a hood: if there was a camera in the room, nobody would have been able to read his password.

In an article detailing the situation, The Washington Post writer Barton Gellman indicated that Snowden had set his conditions for the publication of his PowerPoint presentation on PRISM, the program that allows the FBI access to Google, Facebook and other social networks: He wanted the information to be published in two days and in its entirety.

The Washington Post submitted the presentation to the government for review — a procedure the American media follow when in possession of confidential information concerning national security — and only published 4 of 41 slides. So Snowden went to The Guardian. It took a British daily newspaper to create movement in the U.S.

Contrary to rumors, The Guardian isn’t paying for the whistleblower’s hotel room, said Glenn Greenwald.

Could Edward Snowden have information on Barack Obama? In the interview with The Guardian, he confirmed that he was authorized to view everything if he had a personal email address: “I, sitting at my desk, certainly had the authority to wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant, to a federal judge or even the president, if I had a personal email.”

Curiously, the president mentioned his private situation while defending the NSA on June 7 in California. He explained that he would become a private citizen in three and a half years: “And I suspect that, you know, on — on a list of people who might be targeted, you know, so that somebody could read their emails or — or listen to their phone calls, I’d probably be pretty high on that list. So it’s not as if I don’t have a personal interest in making sure my privacy is protected.”

The White House declined to comment aside from the classic “an investigation is ongoing.” Obama preferred to slip away, probably to await an evaluation of the damages caused by the leak. The challenge for him is now to find an answer to Edward Snowden’s actions. He can’t let it go, but he can’t risk pushing the young whistleblower into the arms of the Chinese. That might make him seem like a dissident. The outcome of the story may rest in the hands of comrade Xi.

*Editor’s Note: These quotes, accurately translated, could not be verified.