Mood Swing

Criticism of NSA methods is also growing in the United States. Edward Snowden has done American democracy a great service.

The judgment handed down by judge Denise Lind yesterday to WikiLeaks whistle-blower Bradley Manning in Fort Meade, Md., had been eagerly awaited locally.

The reason for the interest is that the headquarters of the National Security Agency (NSA) is also located at Fort Meade, and the NSA hopes to see Edward Snowden, a “traitor” from its own ranks who has fled to Russia, also brought to justice as quickly as possible.

The U.S. government is keeping up the pressure — and making strange promises — in its attempts to get Snowden back. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder recently wrote to his Russian counterpart, assuring him that Snowden would not be subjected to torture or face the death penalty if handed over to the United States.

What an image America the proud constitutional democracy has these days — that it has to make official government promises that it won’t torture people!

Things went bonkers after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. But as usual — and this is the good news — America can be counted on to come to its senses and make the necessary political corrections.

That’s shown by the strident debate over the NSA’s eavesdropping program against its own citizens. It’s by no means exclusively a matter of German hysteria over an unregulated snooping program on the Internet and telephone networks. A lot of Americans have gotten fed up with it as well. Half of those surveyed by The Washington Post and ABC feel their privacy has been invaded by the NSA programs. Just 42 percent think they make the United States more secure.

The mood swing Snowden caused with his revelations is also apparent in the U.S. Congress. A motion last week to cut NSA funding for telephone tapping operations came close to being approved. Opposition to NSA business as usual came from Republicans and Democrats alike.

Jim Sensenbrenner, Republican representative from Wisconsin and one of the fathers of the Patriot Act passed in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, remarked that he never intended “to allow the wholesale vacuuming up of domestic phone records,” and added, “The time has come to stop it.”

Directors at the NSA will have to appear in turn before a congressional investigative committee. All were of the opinion that “traitor” Edward Snowden, even if he weren’t tortured and executed, still deserved no leniency. While a probable majority of Americans want to see him on trial, a change of mood among the public and some lawmakers appears to be taking place. Whatever his motivation, Snowden may have done American democracy a favor.

In the end, the people at the NSA realize one fact: If they lose the trust of the American people, they will be unable to carry out their mission.