Slugging It Out with the White House

They weren’t sitting in the same room — not even in the same country — but ex-National Security Agency employee and currently the world’s most famous whistleblower Edward Snowden and Secretary of State John Kerry engaged in a donnybrook on Wednesday.

In Moscow, Snowden provided NBC television network with a comprehensive interview and Kerry responded on CBS. Snowden explained that he of course wanted to return to the United States but he didn’t want to go to jail. Kerry responded Snowden should act like a man and face the music. Snowden reiterated that he had been motivated by patriotism because he felt the NSA’s espionage practices were basically unconstitutional, adding, “Doing what is right is not always legal.” Kerry told NBC’s Chuck Todd, “Edward Snowden is a coward, he is a traitor and he has betrayed his country,” adding, “If he wants to come home tomorrow to face the music, he can do so.”

Snowden, on the other hand, is convinced he has served his country well: “How can it be said that this harmed the country,” Snowden asked, “when all three branches of government have made reforms as a result of it?”

In an interview, Snowden reported how easy it had been to advance within the security hierarchy even after he was no longer a civil servant but had become a contract employee for a private company. He had voiced his concerns about that fact repeatedly to the NSA but always received the same bureaucracy-speak response that he would be better off not asking such questions.

Not Free but Able to Sleep Peacefully

With the publication of what he knew in the Guardian and Washington Post newspapers, he may have sacrificed his freedom of movement but at least he can now sleep well at night. In addition, Snowden assured the public that he had no dealings with the Russian government, wasn’t being supported by Moscow and above all else was not a Russian spy, saying he had divulged no classified information to Russia and in fact had not taken all his data with him to Russia. He says it was painful for him to be forced to seek refuge in a country with such a poor record on human rights. He said he feels like a stranger in Russia and is in a permanent state of culture shock, although having Internet access enables him to live at least somewhat like an American. He watched, for example, the TV series “The Wire,” although says the second season is not as good as the first season was. But he also misses his family and his homeland.

Snowden’s Russian asylum terminates in July and what will happen then is anyone’s guess at present. It appears he is engaged in ongoing negotiations with the U.S. government. His attorney, Wolfgang Kalek, revealed in Der Spiegel magazine that they were hoping for an amicable agreement. On the question of whether they are hoping for an offer of clemency or amnesty from the U.S. government, Snowden says that is not his choice to make. There have not been any signals in that direction as of yet. Snowden continues to believe he cannot get a fair trial in the United States.

In his West Point commencement address, Obama didn’t mention Snowden specifically and referred only tangentially to the NSA. The president reiterated that “we will have fewer partners and be less effective if a perception takes hold that we’re conducting surveillance against ordinary citizens.”

These were his words, but he neglected to say what actions he will take in that regard.