Snowden the Coward

The loss of Congressman Justin Amash's amendment to the House Defense appropriation's bill blocking the NSA's phone record program this past week is due to Edward Snowden's cowardice. Yes the intelligence community has pushed well beyond many limits set for it because that is what happens in a closed loop. A secret agency supervised by a secret court is certain to spin off into an extremity which we never intended it to go. Therefore I applaud Snowden for having exposed the intelligence gathering excesses and started a debate about the limits of what we will tolerate in the name of security. The problem is that his seeking asylum outside of the country. Instead he should be here in the U.S. going to trial and willing to endure punishment for pledges he broke and knew for which there would be existential consequences for himself.

Unfortunately his request for asylum from anti American authoritarian states has reduced the worth of his sacrifice to nothing by giving authoritarians the ability to call him a traitor and thereby cut off the debate.

Postscript - Aug 14

Today's Thomas Friedman editorial "Obama, Snowden & Putin" makes the same observation about Snowden really needing to come home and face the music.  The longer he hides under Putin's authoritarian skirts, the better he makes the NSA look.