Should Snowden get amnesty

2013-12-16T05:52:34-05:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25399345

Would you support this, or be against it? I am against it myself.

A top NSA official says it is considering offering an amnesty to fugitive intelligence analyst Edward Snowden if he agrees to stop leaking documents.

Response by SFC Rocky Gannon made Dec 16 at 2013 5:55 AM

2013-12-16T05:55:25-05:00

Gen Anderson says no but he will be gone in a few months, so what will the next person do?

Response by MSgt Ryan Tanner made Dec 16 at 2013 8:51 AM

2013-12-16T08:51:08-05:00

Negatory, I see a smoldering car-fire in his future...just sayin'!

Response by SGM Matthew Quick made Dec 16 at 2013 8:58 AM

2013-12-16T08:58:28-05:00

Absolutely not.

Giving this traitor (or patriotic whistle-blower to some) amnesty will enable the perception that others may want to follow suit and create even more 'Edward Snowdens'.

You reap what you sow!

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 16 at 2013 9:12 AM

2013-12-16T09:12:33-05:00

I say no, the manner in which he sought to uncover things jeopardized the Nation's international relations and severely injured our intel. I'm not agreeing with the programs he exposed, but I don't think pulling a Manning on this was truly in the best interest of our country, I feel he had/has ulterior motives.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 16 at 2013 9:28 AM

2013-12-16T09:28:44-05:00

A problem with this article is that the NSA or other intelligence agencies do not have the authority to give amnesty. That is a function that is not delegated down from the President or appropriate legal authorities. To the question of amnesty for Snowden is a tricky one. An an Army Officer I hold the viewpoint that releasing classified documents inappropriately is a violation of federal law and that would betray part of the Army values, specifically Integrity. On the other hand one could argue that Snowden's actions are in keeping with checks on governmental power and that citizens have the responsibility to notify legal authorities of illegal actions by the government. The problem here is that if the administration in power(thus the highest legal authority and the executive order that establishes classification systems for the US) is committing the violations who do you tell? Many of the classified documents do not violate any specific law that I am aware of but if releasing any of them does violate a law then that is a problem. Since he was a civilian contractor he is in a different position of trust than I am and operates under different philosophies and codes of conduct. In short, an answer to your question is difficult since it crosses several important principles and may not be possible to truly figure out. But at this point and from my perspective I have to say that he released classified documents and that violates the law thus he should be prosecuted. Another method needs to be established to keep checks on violations of Presidential, Congressional or other governmental power.

Response by Capt Frank McClung made Dec 16 at 2013 9:36 AM

2013-12-16T09:36:05-05:00

Snowden will not get amnesty in his lifetime. Maybe historians will grant him one.

Response by CPT Aaron Kletzing made Dec 16 at 2013 10:55 AM

2013-12-16T10:55:35-05:00

I do not think he should be given amnesty -- and I don't expect the appropriate US decision makers to give him amnesty. I would be shocked if he received amnesty.

(Note: this is my personal opinion and does not represent any stance of RallyPoint on the matter.)

Response by CW2 Geoff Lachance made Dec 16 at 2013 7:57 PM

2013-12-16T19:57:49-05:00

I'm mixed!

On one hand, as a government agent, you are sworn to protect information you are privy to. His actions have now caused some distrust by our allies. We are responsible and accountable for our actions!

On the other hand, I'm very leery of our current administration. Their stories about Bengazi, Fast and Furious, and others are being exposed and leave a lot of unanswered questions. So did this Snowden Guy expose more corruption? Did he do us a favor?

He should at least come back and stand before a tribunal to hear his case. That would be the honorable thing to do.

Response by Capt William Homewood made Dec 16 at 2013 8:35 PM

2013-12-16T20:35:24-05:00

I would give him Amnesty in the form of a slug behind the right ear...that generally stops the leak.

Response by COL Andrew Schober made Dec 16 at 2013 9:07 PM

2013-12-16T21:07:40-05:00

Hell no. He is a disgrace and a traitor.

Response by COL Andrew Schober made Dec 16 at 2013 9:08 PM

2013-12-16T21:08:46-05:00

Hell no

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 16 at 2013 9:14 PM

2013-12-16T21:14:08-05:00

Absolutely no amnesty, him and Manning are looser.

Response by CPT Ray Doeksen made Dec 16 at 2013 11:07 PM

2013-12-16T23:07:28-05:00

I think it is important that we understand the considerable differences between the Snowden case and the Manning case; most people I've heard talk about them have confused and conflated the two.

There might be a case to be made for cutting a deal with Snowden to bring him back to the US, stop an additional leak of information and treat him as a whistleblower not an agent of espionage. We don't (I certainly don't!) know what he had that he has NOT released, but the NSA may. I don't feel any of us here with less than super-ultra-security clearance and can really say we know what needs to happen next.

Response by LTC Jason Bartlett made Dec 17 at 2013 1:57 AM

2013-12-17T01:57:11-05:00

I do not think he should be given amnesty, I would prefer a quicker end in order to save the Government any expense of a trial or long prison sentence.

Response by MAJ Bryan Zeski made Dec 17 at 2013 9:59 AM

2013-12-17T09:59:30-05:00

If I were Snowden... I wouldn't trust any kind of amnesty deal. I think once he gives up his cards, he's going to have an unfortunate accident. Or put into permanent "witness relocation" - never to be heard from again.

Response by PO2 Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 14 at 2014 12:07 PM

2014-08-14T12:07:43-04:00

Everyone knows, or should know that ALL countries spy, not only on their enemies, but friends. Spying has gone on since BEFORE medieval times!

Response by MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca made Aug 14 at 2014 9:57 PM

2014-08-14T21:57:42-04:00

Sure, they can set the electric chair on a lower voltage so he won't fry right away.

Response by SSgt James Stanley made Aug 16 at 2014 11:10 PM

2014-08-16T23:10:56-04:00

I don't think he should get amnesty. Who knows what he may have turned over to the Russians.

Response by Capt Jeff S. made Mar 4 at 2015 5:19 AM

2015-03-04T05:19:09-05:00

Yes, I would support amnesty for Snowden. He was a whistleblower. While his means for blowing the whistle were unconventional, the system for reporting the abuses was broken. Had he gone through the proper channels to blow the whistle, he would have been fired, and the information would have been covered up. NOTHING would have changed except his employment status. The American people's constitutional rights were being violated by the very government they elected, and we have a right to know. We don't need Big Brother watching our every move...

I don't agree with all of his information releases. For example, leaking the fact that we had bugged Merkel's phone wasn't good for our PR and it makes our allies trust us less... but then again that was a very underhanded thing to do to one of your trusted allies. That juicy tidbit was very damaging to our foreign relations and set us back considerably.

He did some things right (given the options he had) and he did some things wrong. I don't fully support all that he did, but yes, the information about our gov't spying on our own citizens without warrant did need to come out. The information about the Big Brother datacenter being built out West (with Zetabytes of storage capacity -- enough to maintain an active dossier on everyone on this planet) needed to come out. Our gov't doesn't need that kind of information to function. It's overstepping its constitutional authority in a most scary way.

Snowden honored the principles of our Constitution and held them higher than his own personal safety and future. You can call him a pinhead, but I see him as a patriot [of sorts]. He knew his life would be in danger and that his life would never be the same, but I think he was thinking about us, and our rights being violated. I sincerely believe that Snowden loves this country. I think in his mind he did what he had to do to expose the government's intentional violation of our constitutional rights. Part of me is glad he did it. I think the real villain in this story is the system that was so corrupted that it would not entertain the concerns of a whistleblower. It took what Edward Snowden did to wake people up to the abuses of our Federal Gov't.

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 6 at 2015 4:43 PM

2015-10-06T16:43:27-04:00

SFC Rocky Gannon, Absoulutely not. This guy reminds me too much of the Falcon.