Before I dive into this diary, let's clear something up: Edward Snowden did not petition for clemency. A clemency petition is predicated on a conviction and filed with the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Snowden has not been tried or convicted of any crime. The U.S. government has completely bastardized a letter Snowden wrote "To whom it may concern" in order to manufacture this narrative that Snowden requested clemency so that surveillance advocates in the White House (senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer,) and in Congress (Intelligence Committee Chairs Mike Rogers and Dianne Feinstein) could appear on the Sunday shows "denying clemency" in a transparent attempt to discredit the whistleblower who told us the truth about NSA and give the illusion that Snowden "admitted" some crime.
Considering that the procedure for applying for clemency requires a formal petition and subject to countless rule sand regulations, it is absurd and intentionally misleading for government officials to "deny clemency" for Snowden in the media based on a generalized letter written by a asylee not convicted of anything.
Speaking of discredited, Rogers and Feinstein (proponents of surveillance-enabling legislation intentionally mislabeled as "reform") shot off another completely disingenuous message over the weekend: that Snowden should have gone to the intelligence committees with his disclosures.
For Rogers and Feinstein to assert that Snowden should have come to them while in the same breath calling him a "traitor" and promoting legislation that will extend NSA's surveillance power is a devious distraction from the congressional intelligence committees' complicity in mass surveillance and abject failure to fulfill their oversight obligations.
Feinstein and Rogers claims are disingenuous at best, entrapment at worst considering that several of my NSA clients did bring concerns about mass, unconstitutional surveillance to the intelligence committees, namely Thomas Drake. Drake's boss told him to "watch out, because NSA management was looking for 'leakers'" . . . to Congress. NSA fired Drake, and the Justice Department prosecuted him under the Espionage Act.
Immediately after 9/11, Drake told the truth about massive waste, fraud, abuse and illegality at NSA to the Intelligence Committees. In December 2001, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security, chaired by Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), subpoenaed Mr. Drake as a material witness for its investigation into “Counterterrorism Intelligence Capabilities and Performance Prior to 9-11.” During the summer of 2002, the Joint Inquiry subpoenaed Mr. Drake as a material witness in its investigation, which resulted in the “Final Report of the Joint Inquiry into the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2011.” Throughout 2001 and 2002, Drake had regular contact with both House and Senate intelligence committee staff.
NSA whistleblowers William Binney and J. Kirk Wiebe also brought their concerns to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees to no avail. They were put under criminal investigation, falsely accused of being sources for the New York Times, and subjected to armed FBI raids on their homes.
In light of the congressional intelligence committees' dismal track record of failing to protect intelligence community whistleblowers or address concerns about mass surveillance, Snowden used the only safe avenue available to intelligence community whistleblowers in bringing his whistleblowing revelations to journalists.
If Feinstein and Rogers want whistleblowers to come to them, the they should provide safe internal channels for those disclosures. But the facts belie that their real intent is to support surveillance: it was Rogers' committee that was responsible for stripping intelligence community whistleblower protections from major pieces of legislation such as the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (for federal employees) and the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013 (for federal contractors).
Our congressional intelligence committees need to spend more time investigating NSA's illegal activities, and less time reciting NSA talking points on national television.
