Brett Daniel Shehadey
Special Contributor for In Homeland Security
Edward Snowden’s travels are not helping his case to appear as a hero to the American people. As many pointed out, portraying an image as champion to rights for privacy is contradicted by the destinations—China’s Special Administrated Region, Hong Kong, or Moscow—neither of which offer free speech and both of which are foreign nations that are suspected in obtaining information from him about the NSA and other intelligence programs.
As of now, there is a bit of uncertainty as to where Snowden is or will go next. Although they suspect he is in Moscow still. Moscow denied this and they denied special treatment or political asylum. He was a no show on the flight to Havana, Cuba. The latest is that they refuse to hand him over.
The US appears to be pursuing Snowden on all fronts in an international manhunt. The official surface rhetoric is actually making the US appear weak and slow. Much more damage to the US has been political, so far as is known. US officials could be handling this more quietly to their advantage. The news media is also playing the spectacle. The question of domestic intelligence is put on the backburner for good reason, but still needs to be addressed.
Snowden is a man on the run, or trying to go to ground, but one that can hardly be seen as an “American” if any of the more detailed information that he has on these programs fall into foreign hands. He no longer has an functioning American passport. He is welcome in only a few states that are able to defy the US to their domestic political appeal.
The very image of an innocent man holding a laptop and carting around boxes of stolen documents in the airport is a at best a clumsy form of the desired patriotism. Even the Guardian did not publish all of the classified documents they were given.
The worst part of this ordeal is that China and Russia and some other state may get some classified information on American intelligence programs and methods, which will result in their enhanced efforts to in turn spy on American citizens and do exactly what Snowden claims to fear. They would use similar programs and technology and they have no mandate to protect the American people.
Maybe Snowden is a true believer or maybe he is in cahoots with a foreign power all along. Perhaps he should have thought this one through more: For future reference, please do not take stolen classified documents to China and Russia.