Anthonyn Cordesman on Edward Snowden

I'm reminded of Dr Johnson's remark that "patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel," not to mention General Washington's: "I can hear the charming sound of bullets."

Government work, very well paying, has supported Anthony his entire life. I am sure it made him a better reviewer.

I know Cordesman used Thiel 7.2 speakers at one time and I use them now, so much for shared audio history. If Snowden hadn't revealed the information then we continue living under the naive presumption of constitutional protection of our privacy. At least now a national debate can/might ensue. I have no idea if Cordesman is a neo-liberal hawk or an audiophile of a different stripe. Working for the CSSI makes me wonder though.

Snowden is a hero.

Not sure how you can say that without weighing the degree to which privacy has been compromised against the number of innocent American lives that the surveillance programs he disclosed may have saved.

It seems reasonable to speculate that the programs prevented at least one attack that would have cost at least one American life. If saving that one life is not worth some degree of compromised privacy, how many would be? Ten, 100, 1000, 10000?

I don't see how Snowden can be declared to be a hero without that balance being drawn. And to me, the likelihood that at least one life was saved is sufficient justification for the programs, and Snowden is no hero.

This will be my only post in this thread.

Regards,
-- Al

Once again our eyes are off the ball. Snowden is a side story. He is one of several, recent whistleblowers that have come forward. As far back as the Viet Nam war, our RP-2E (a variant of the P-2 Neptune) scooped all electronic info, in country, in ONE pass. We also had an office in France that scooped all communications from Europe to America and this was over 50 years ago.

Despite our advances in cable, doesn't anyone here remember how implementation lagged behind the rest of the world because the NSA needed time to figure out how to spy on the network?

I have no qualms about what is done for our security. Look at what we allow of ourselves to be displayed on Facebook and other ridiculous sites. We are an open society that has yet to mature at the level that technology sets the pace.

Accountability is the issue here. Private, for profit companies don't have the inherent patriotism that government does and yet it's these private companies that have the highest clearances and lowest standards as the Snowden affair has demonstrated.

There is recourse when government messes up but next to none when private companies do. They'll simply reorganize and get another contract. Some of these companies have already been caught using our private info for non security purposes (marketing, selling of our info, etc.) and no one complains. In addition, they are soaking us (the taxpayers) by inflating the cost of their services compared to what the government charges.

Snowden admits to intentionally going to Booz Allen to get info he had no right to have access to, among other things. Structurally, we're screwed until better screening practices and standards of operations are put in place.

All the best,
Nonoise