“Verax” aka Edward Snowden

 

He was a technical contractor and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee who worked for ‘Booz Allen Hamilton’ (a contractor for the National Security Agency who is perhaps the most prestigious technology consulting firm in the world), until he decided to leak details of classified NSA mass surveillance programs to the press; most notably a variety of top-secret NSA programs, including the interception of telephone records at telecom giant Verizon; further, (surprise surprise) he says the same holds true for internet records at Google, Facebook, Apple and other US internet giants.   In other words, Snowden leaked to various press organizations that the US National Security Agency (NSA) is in the business of gathering intelligence, and ‘secretly’ no less, even in foreign countries like China.

The naïve young man who sometimes calls himself “Verax” (that’s Latin for ‘the truth teller’) grew-up in Wilmington, NC; dropped-out of high school as a teen but successfully obtain his GED at 19 after relocating to Ellicott City, Maryland (a part of the affluent Baltimore-Washington DC Metropolitan Area) with his family.   

Take note that this task (the GED) required two tries and he actually made some effort to obtain a college Degree by working on line at the University of Liverpool just a few years ago (2011).

In May of 2004, Snowden enlisted in the United States Army as a Special Forces recruit but did not complete the training; he was discharged apparently four months later after having broken both of his legs in a training accident.

In 2006 he described himself as a “computer wizard”; this followed his employment as a ‘NSA’ security guard for ‘The Center for the Advanced Study of Language’ at the University of Maryland (now we know where “Verax” came from).  He made this descriptive comment after joining the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to work on computer security in “Ars Technica”, which is noted as being an online forum for computer hackers and gamers.

 The “Guardian” published its first exclusive based on Snowden’s ‘leak’ on June 5^th of 2013; disclosing a secret court order which revealed that the US government had forced telecoms giant, Verizon, to hand over the phone records of millions of Americans – including mom, dad, sister, brother, etc.

 

A second story on June 6^th reveals the existence of the previously undisclosed program  “Prism”, which in-house NSA documents claim gives the agency “direct access” to data held by Google, Facebook, Apple and other US internet giants.

When interviewed by the Washington Post recently, Snowden not only identified himself as “Verax”, he also self-identified himself as a spook. “I’ve been a spy almost all of my adult life,” and that by the way is his own quote.

For some mysterious reason certain US officials and agencies are bound and determined to make his “declarations” or  “leaks” (as un-surprising as they may be) an international incident.  Today June 23^rd of 2013 Snowden left Hong Kong (where he has apparently been hiding for 3 weeks or so) on a flight to Moscow, after reports were released by the news media that in Russia he had a friend.  In the mean time, in a public news release, the Hong Kong government insisted documents submitted by the US to hold him, did not “fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong “law” so it (the Hong Kong government) had no legal basis to honor such a request.

The unsuccessful efforts to ‘capture’ 30 year old Snowden by the US with the ‘help’ or ‘assistance’ of would-be government friends like Russia, China, Hong Kong, and etcetera merely amplifies the  low standing or status the vast majority of the world’s population holds for Americans in general.

Add the caveat that as of today (June 23) a petition to pardon Edward Snowden has reached its goal of 100,000 signatures in the US.  In short, the petition asks that President Obama pardon the NSA leaker and under Whitehouse.gov guidelines 100,000 signatures is supposed to prompt an official response from the administration.  Such revelations accelerates the broad range of thinking on the issue of whether Snowden is ‘traitor’ or ‘hero’ by the average American and re-assures the non-American citizens of the world that US policies are flawed at best.  

There is some chance that Snowden is simply an idealistic young adult, starved for attention.  Until such time that he starts or shows evidence of an intent to release names of real American spies (NSA might even use the very surveillance tactics he’s been leaking) that may lend the possibility of causing genuine harm to the US, her allies or their citizens, perhaps the reasonable approach to the current fiasco is to simply deny Edward Snowden the opportunity of re-entering the United States.  You see, America may never have a “friend” that will detain him long enough for capture or otherwise deport him back to the United States for a proper trial but exile from the country is just a good idea; think of the dollars saved that could be applied to the national deficit and couple that with avoiding world-wide embarrassment.    Seldom does international politics offer an opportunity for a win, win, scenario; especially for the US. This is surely an exception.

Sources:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/23/edward-snowden-nsa-files-timeline http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden                     http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/10/18882615-what-we-know-about-nsa-leaker-edward-snowden?lite                                                    http://abcnews.go.com/US/nsa-leaker-edward-snowden-whistle-blower/story?id=19374578#.UcerCtioCpY                                           http://www.inquisitr.com/810593/edward-snowdens-pardon-petition-reaches-100000-signatures/

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