Edward Snowden vs The U.S. Government By Nicholas Pace

Background In June of 2013, Edward Snowden was working for NSA when he decided to leak sensitive government documents into the public. After the documents were leaked Snowden left the U.S. for asylum in Russia for a year while the U.S. government wanted him to come back for questioning. The documents that were released had information containing military operations and information that the U.S. was spying on our allies.

Claim Edward Snowden did not break the law when he leaked those sensitive government documents into the public.

Idea 1 The people of the United States should be allowed to know what is going on in our government. Edward Snowden gave the U.S. citizens the opportunity to hold the government accountable with the release of the documents. It is not fair that a man should be punished for giving the people of our great nation the information they have the right to.

Idea 2 Edward Snowden is a whistle-blower instead of a traitor. Traitors are people who sell out secrets in exchange for money or power. Whistle-blowers give out information to the public to bring light to what is occurring in an organization, company, or government.

Idea 3 If Snowden had not released the documents then our allies would not of known that we were spying in on them. The German Prime Minister was notified that her cell phone had been bugged for some time thanks to the released documents. Brazil learned that we also had bugged their government offices by American personnel who were stationed in Brazil.

Conclusion Without the release of documents by Edward Snowden then who knows what our relationship with our allies would be like. The people of the U.S. should be allowed to be aware of what is occurring in the government and what they are doing elsewhere. We as citizens are responsible to hold the government accountable for their actions and the consequences that may follow them. Without the help of Edward Snowden who knows when we would be able to hold the government accountable.

Works Cited Whistleblowing as civil disobedience: The case of Edward Snowden William E. Scheuerman William E. Scheuerman Published June 8, 2014 News Narratives, Classified Secrets, Privacy, and Edward Snowden Ed Madison March 2014 U.S. Spy Scandal Triggers Outrage, Paranoia in Germany By Alexander Smith outrage-paranoia-germany-n outrage-paranoia-germany-n Published August 2, 2014

Acknowledgements Thank you to: God for allowing me to be here today. Julia Kaziewicz helping me figure what which way to go for this paper. My parents for getting me to watch the news and staying aware of what is going on in our country. My classmates Cliff and William for helping me sort out my thoughts so I could start to organize my paper.