Two years after it was launched, the White House has finally responded to a petition begging clemency for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, in the negative. Dubbing the former contractor’s revelations about the US government’s surveillance apparatus “dangerous” and compromising to national security, the White House reiterated that Snowden should face criminal charges for his actions.
The “We the People” petition, created after Snowden’s first leaks appeared in Britain’s The Guardian in mid-2013, hailed Snowden “as a national hero … [who] should be immediately issued a full, free, and absolute pardon for any crimes he has committed or may have committed related to blowing the whistle on secret NSA surveillance programs. ” It gained 1,67, 955 signatures overall.
In her response, Lisa Monaco, President Barack Obama’s adviser on homeland security and counterterrorism, said the country needs to make important decisions about the balance between security and civil liberties.
“Instead of constructively addressing these issues, Mr. Snowden’s dangerous decision to steal and disclose classified information had severe consequences for the security of our country and the people who work day in and day out to protect it,” she wrote.
Monaco said that if Snowden felt his actions were consistent with civil disobedience, he should have engaged in “a constructive act of protest, and — importantly — accept[ed] the consequences of his actions.”
“We live in a dangerous world. We continue to face grave security threats like terrorism, cyber-attacks, and nuclear proliferation that our intelligence community must have all the lawful tools it needs to address,” she said. “The balance between our security and the civil liberties that our ideals and our constitution require deserves robust debate and those who are willing to engage in it here at home.”
The Obama administration has maintained a hard line on Snowden, even as his revelations prompted the US Congress to approve the most sweeping surveillance reform in decades. Federal lawmakers overwhelmingly passed the USA Freedom Act in June, which effectively ended the federal government’s bulk collection of millions of Americans’ phone records by transferring responsibility to private telecom companies.
The US government has mainly remained quiet on the subject of pardoning Snowden, but when petitions receive more than 100,000 signatures on the official site, the government is required to issue a response.
Source: The White House
