What Laws Did Edward Snowden Break?
Edward Snowden
In 2006, when Edward J. Snowden joined the thousands of computer virtuosos going to work for America’s spy agencies, there were no recent examples of insiders going public as dissidents. However, his doubts towards the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency grew. Instead of merely opting out of surveillance work, Mr. Snowden embraced the disillusioned employees refashioning themselves as heroic whistle-blowers and so he delivered hundreds of highly classified N.S.A. documents to The Guardian and The Washington Post. So, what laws did Edward Snowden break? He is known to have stole information from the Government; therefore the criminal complaint against Snowden cites “Theft of Government Property”, “Unauthorized Communication of National Defense Information”, and “Willful Communication of Classified Intelligence Information to an Unauthorized Person”. In addition, his charges fall under the Espionage Act because he gave national defense information to someone without a security clearance and revealing classified information about communications intelligence. Furthermore, he admitted to breaking U.S. laws that prohibit the disclosure of classified government information.
Moreover, we can ask, “ Can it be argued that his breaking the law is for the greater good of society?” Yes. Because, he told the world the truth, invasion of privacy is occurring, and it spurred the debate if the American government is doing the right thing for the people of United States of America. Despite the fact that Snowden broke a few laws, Edward Snowden did the world a favor. Lon Snowden, Edward Snowden’s father, believes that Edward did the right thing. He says, "I think my son, whether it's today or 100 years from now, he'll be comfortable with what he did”. Furthermore, what Snowden did was to tell the world the truth—the truth that he thought the citizens of America should know. Secondly, there is an invasion of privacy among the citizens of
In 2006, when Edward J. Snowden joined the thousands of computer virtuosos going to work for America’s spy agencies, there were no recent examples of insiders going public as dissidents. However, his doubts towards the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency grew. Instead of merely opting out of surveillance work, Mr. Snowden embraced the disillusioned employees refashioning themselves as heroic whistle-blowers and so he delivered hundreds of highly classified N.S.A. documents to The Guardian and The Washington Post. So, what laws did Edward Snowden break? He is known to have stole information from the Government; therefore the criminal complaint against Snowden cites “Theft of Government Property”, “Unauthorized Communication of National Defense Information”, and “Willful Communication of Classified Intelligence Information to an Unauthorized Person”. In addition, his charges fall under the Espionage Act because he gave national defense information to someone without a security clearance and revealing classified information about communications intelligence. Furthermore, he admitted to breaking U.S. laws that prohibit the disclosure of classified government information.
Moreover, we can ask, “ Can it be argued that his breaking the law is for the greater good of society?” Yes. Because, he told the world the truth, invasion of privacy is occurring, and it spurred the debate if the American government is doing the right thing for the people of United States of America. Despite the fact that Snowden broke a few laws, Edward Snowden did the world a favor. Lon Snowden, Edward Snowden’s father, believes that Edward did the right thing. He says, "I think my son, whether it's today or 100 years from now, he'll be comfortable with what he did”. Furthermore, what Snowden did was to tell the world the truth—the truth that he thought the citizens of America should know. Secondly, there is an invasion of privacy among the citizens of