I keep resisting the urge to call Edward Snowden a traitor to his country, or otherwise convicting him before he’s even been tried in a courtroom.
Still, I cannot stop believing that the former National Security Agency employee has committed some serious wrongdoing by leaking national security secrets. He’s on the lam, apparently hiding in a transit room at Moscow’s airport. The Russians say they won’t extradite him to the United States.
This young man is in serious trouble and is seeking asylum, reportedly, in Ecuador, a country run by a government with a known hatred toward the media – to whom Snowden leaked the secrets.
This story is giving me a slight case of heartburn, but it’s relenting somewhat as I’m finally believing that Snowden, at minimum, violated an oath he took when he went to work for NSA. The oath no doubt called for a vow of confidentiality, that he would protect the secrets to which he had access.
Has this fellow committed an act of treason? A court ought to determine whether he’s guilty of the espionage for which the government has charged him.
Edward Snowden is no hero, despite what some on the left suggest. He’s accused of committing several serious crimes against the nation. He needs to be brought home to stand trial, where he can mount whatever defense he has in a public courtroom.