Snowden: Friend or Foe?

The answer is yes. Edward Snowden is regarded as either friend or foe, depending on which side of the issue are willing to take.

With Snowden leaking information about some of the NSA's top secret information-gathering programs comes many questions; some relating to the job he had, and some questions about why the program even exists.

Here's the deal...the program does exist.  Now what Congress and the adminstration need to do is answer to  the American people about why they think collecting this amount of information from folks who are not a national security threat is so important.  But, to address Snowden leaking secret NSA information, I have to wonder...why does a government contractor have this kind of access to sensitive information about a top secret program;  why didn't he use his "chain of command";  why did he run off to Hong Kong;  and my big question is why didn't the NSA know about this before we did?

The Snowden leak scenario, in my opinion, has to be the biggest slap in the face to those who support the NSA's information-gathering program.  The fact that he was able to get data a take it out of the office with him proves that the security measures in place to protect the data are second-rate.  The data is simply not safe.

Whatever your opinion, the bottom line is that Snowden took an oath to protect the program and the contents therein.  If he was not comfortable with the program, there are measures in place for whistle blowers to use.  Am I glad he leaked information about the program?  You bet.  However, I wish he had gone about it in a way that did not jeopardize national security.