Re: Message from Moscow

Posted by Steve Smith on Nov 01, 2013; 5:08pm
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/Message-from-Moscow-tp7584171p7584176.html

On 11/1/13 10:55 AM, Patrick Reilly wrote:

I'd have much more respect for him if he'd stayed in the US and accepted the attendant risks acting on his ideals.  

Barring that, I'd have more respect for him if he would be (yet more) clear that he understood that what he was doing was illegal, not just something "daddy might spank me for".  I think he *is* clear on that but the nature of his public statements tend to obscure that I think.

He can still offer to return to the US and the control of the US legal system... but maybe not quite yet?  When is a good time?

On the opposite side, I'd respect our intelligence folks and our administration more if they would say something like:

"What he did was illegal, but we acknowledge that his disclosures do not appear to substantialy harm national security.  There are aspects of what he disclosed which are important for the public to know about and despite the unfortunate way these things came to light, we are ready to accept public and congressional scrutiny that might have been lacking before these disclosures.  We do not condone cowboy vigilante actions but we do understand that there is a legitimate role for whistleblowers and we need to take that into account"

I'm not holding my breath, however.

- Steve



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