8/11/2013

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), the chairman of the Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats Subcommittee, lauds Snowden, defends Putin

You have to respect Rohrabacher for having the guts to say this.  From The Hill newspaper:
“Snowden was just alerting us to our government getting out of hand. Russia accepting him for asylum I think was not as hostile an act as was being portrayed,” Rohrabacher said in an interview on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” program. . . .
Meanwhile, despite the revelations, no real changes are expected at the NSA.
Gen. Michael Hayden, former director of the National Security Agency (NSA) and Central Intelligence Agency, said on Sunday that he doesn’t expect significant operational changes at the NSA despite an uproar over its massive surveillance programs.  . . . 
“To me, the most telling thing he said was perhaps something he didn’t quite say. He didn’t suggest he was going to operationally change this program,” Hayden said.

“There’s no suggestion that what he was doing or what President Bush was doing before him with regard to these programs was anything other than lawful, effective and appropriate.” . . .
UPDATE:  Others don't think that anything would have changed without Snowden.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul said Sunday he doesn't believe President Barack Obama would have acted to reform National Security Agency programs were it not for the leaks from Edward Snowden.
"I see no evidence of that. I think Snowden came out, leaked this information, and the WhiteHouse has been backtracking ever since," the Texas Republican said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press.".
Responding to the president's press conference on Friday announcing a suite of NSA reforms, McCaul dismissed the president's announcements as "window dressing."
"I think when the story initially broke, the president went under cover. He just finally came out last Friday trying to come up with ways to salvage the program by window dressing, forming a website, for instance, an outside group," McCaul said. . . . 
Rep. Tom McClintock has also thought that on net Snowden actions were beneficial.  From The Hill newspaper:
Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) said the Obama administration should give National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden amnesty to get him to return to the United States."I think it would be best if the American government granted him amnesty to get him back to America where he can answer questions without the threat of prosecution," McClintock told Sacramento station KCRA after a town hall last week, in an interview flagged by Buzzfeed on Monday.
"We have some very good laws against sharing secrets, and he broke those laws," McClintock said. "On the other hand, he broke them for a very good reason, because those laws were being used in direct contravention of our Fourth Amendment rights as Americans." . . . 

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2 Comments:

Blogger FZ said...

Oh, please, she is not brave, she is just pandering to the voters. Whatever you think of the NSA "scandal" (I think it's a bunch of overblown crap) Snowden did not do what he did to help America. He did it to hurt America and her attempts to defend herself.

He has insulted our troops, ran to our enemies and possibly given them classified info and has shamelessly promoted himself as some kind of hero. He's nothing more than a punk with a God complex.

Say what you want about the NSA, but please stop the feeding of the BS meme that Snowden is some kind a heroic patriot, people.

8/11/2013 10:28 PM  
Blogger Martin G. Schalz said...

The truth of history shows us that all Dictators fear truth, create enemies where none exist, and then take away our rights with the excuse that it is done to 'protect' us.

The NSA is simply Obama's version of the Ministry for State Security, aka Ministerium für Staatssicherheit, colloquial term Stasi (rhymes with Nazi), FZ.

Rep. Rohrabacher is correct in her assesment.

8/12/2013 1:46 PM  

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