Edward J. Snowden

Edward J. Snowden: We believe the administration is right to try to bring Snowden to justice, even as we acknowledge that the service he performed in exposing the breathtaking scope of U.S. electronic surveillance may entitle him to leniency. , according to Winnipeg Free Press. If the effects of Snowdens leaks are so salutary, his defenders ask, why should he be prosecuted? Russias decision Thursday to grant political asylum to Edward J. Snowden for a year frustrates at least for the foreseeable future the Obama administrations attempt to return the former National Security Agency contractor to the U.S. to stand trial. Those who regard Snowden as a heroic whistle-blower hope that the administration will now abandon its attempt to prosecute him, but that is neither likely nor desirable. Snowdens disclosures have inspired an overdue debate that was previously impossible because of the cloak of government secrecy that shrouded the surveillance programs. Without his revelation to the Guardian that the U.S. government was scooping up reams of information about the phone calls of virtually every American, there wouldnt have been a close vote in the House of Representatives about defunding that program, nor would the programs defenders be announcing their willingness to accept modifications, as Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., did last week. Its also likely that, as the result of Snowdens disclosure about the NSAs omnivorous monitoring of Internet activity by foreigners, there will be additional protection for information about Americans "incidentally" collected in that dragnet. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.