Snowden Spy Thriller: Act 2 Propaganda Value

Mr. Snowden has now left Hong Kong/China.  The Hong Kong, thus Chinese, government determined that the US provisional warrant was not sufficiently informative to make a decision on the matter.  The question on many minds is, since Mr. Snowden's US Passport was revoked, what nation issued him a passport? 

At this point, it doesn't matter.  Mr. Snowden's "passport" is the intel he is carrying around in computers and his head.  China...er...Hong Kong had no more need for Mr. Snowden.  They received everything they needed. 

Now Mr. Snowden is in Russia, likely provided them intel and is on his way somewhere else because Russia doesn't have to keep him, either.  Because, like China, they must surely understand the propaganda value of leaving him free.

It suits them fine that Mr. Snowden is still in the wind.  So long as he remains "free", without any country "claiming" him, the farcical act of "American Patriot striking a blow for freedom" goes on even as he provides unknown, damaging intelligence to various nations. 

It has divided the US and many allies right along the fault line that has been brewing for awhile regarding our ideas about freedom and rights.  The ideas that China and Russia believe, along with others, is our biggest weakness and hypocrisy.  "Look," they are laughing loudly, "you are living a lie.  How dare you question the lack of freedom in our countries when you do the same.  Try standing up for freedom now.  Suckers."

Here we are, many willingly playing along with this game, sucking up the propaganda and doing exactly as intended.  We are now confused, dazed and reeling internally and globally.  It has been an awesome blow and the current administration has no idea how to handle it even as the blow is struck again and again.

The worst aspect is that, yes, many people are buying into this propaganda that we have some how become a police state equal to that of China or Russia or Iran or any of the worst offenders.  It is utter bull shit to put it bluntly. 

We may need to discuss the parameters of our internal data collection and use, but no one has as yet been able to link it to the persecution or prosecution of any "dissidents" or "political enemies" beyond hyperbolic polemics about the possibilities.  Or, some misbegotten idea that a disgruntled private releasing a gargantuan trove of state documents, including names of contacts necessarily, endangering the same, is a political prisoner.  Spare me. 

We are not China.  China that has put political dissidents under "house arrest", persecuting, prosecuting and terrorizing not only the individuals, but their families.  We are not China.  China that has extra state political security organizations that freely and without fear of prosecution detain, torture and kill any "violators" of their party politics or just happen to run afoul of more powerful personages in the party. 

We are not Russia.  Russia who has arrested, persecuted and prosecuted an all girl band for having video taped a song against Putin and real political oppression.  We are not Russia.  Russia who has arrested, persecuted, prosecuted and murdered their own political dissidents and opposition.  Russia that has persecuted, prosecuted and closed numerous NGO's dealing with human rights and civil society.

We are not China or Russia whose media must live in real fear of simply printing or saying anything that the government deems "injurious".  That is not the same as discussing or even investigating methods by which our own media obtains information and whether it is really in the public's best interest to have or constitutes an abuse.  In those countries, any media that dared to go to press with secret intelligence information would be deemed a real "enemy of the state" and find themselves dead or locked in some hell hole of a prison receiving extra special "state hospitality" after a short show trial and very little discussion of the right or necessity of a free press.

We have an unknown and vast quantity of political dissidents, NGO's, rights organizations and media that routinely and successfuly challenges the government, it's reach and it's authority.  Routinely publishes pieces challenging the government and leadership's competency.  Citizens every day do so with very little regard or concern for their safety or future freedom.  Except in corners and pockets where fevered  conspiracy reigns supreme.  No, we did not kill Michael Hastings and the CIA did not assassinate President Kennedy.

We may and should discuss our freedoms, rights and the power we give to government and authorities.   That is our right by God and by Law.  We will not give that up to anyone, least of all nations whose ideas of "freedom" and "democracy" mock the very words. 

Yet, here we are, naval gazing like puppets on command, sucking up the propaganda that is this entire fiasco from start to finish.  Freedom is under attack globally.  It is being pushed back at this very moment in China, Russia, Iran and many other places. 

There are exceedingly few places which can compare to even this "flawed" state of freedom we live in.   The idea that the United States and it's western allies equate to the authoritarian or tyrannical states currently flipping us the bird is unequivocally ridiculous, naive and damned near childish view of the world we live in.

Mr. Snowden, et al, along with their defenders, believe they have struck a blow for freedom.  They have not.  They have struck a blow TO freedom.  Now, when we cast our gaze upon real violations of freedom and democracy, real persecution and prosecution of the advocates of those ideas, Mr. Snowden, et al have given these nations the cover of pretense.  The pretense that we do not know, live by or practise those beliefs. That our nation of laws and rights is nothing but pretense that can be easily ignored or shuffled to the side.  That we are no better than the least free of these nations.

Bull shit. 

We are discussing these issues at this very moment.  The fact that we can discuss these questions regarding our own government puts us far ahead of any would be detractors.  We will continue to, but we should be aware and wary that we are under a, to date, successful propaganda attack.  An attack that few want to recognize as we go careening around, throwing out hyperbolic denunciations, wounding ourselves inexplicably at the hands of truly authoritarian, unfree states.

That injury to global freedom, it's propagation and defense, is only the tip of the ice berg. Yet, it has potentially set freedom back globally for years and left untold numbers of real advocates for freedom dangling in the wind without the simplest or least cover in nations around the world.  The very global freedom that Mr. Snowden et al were allegedly acting in the interest of.

We do not even know as yet what information Mr. Snowden is providing beyond systems, numbers and email addresses, possibly of these very same advocates we have been working to support or people working with them.  How is that defending freedom, global or otherwise?

Even if, bizarrely and barely sustainable, Mr. Snowden only gives away such things, as one defender put it, "that we already knew" like hacking China (largely state owned or associated) corporations and "research" institutes, he did incredible damage to the defense of freedom, the idea of private property, the US and allied economy as well as defense.  Ludicrous? 

China has been hacking our corporations, banks, institutes, research facilities, private information, etc for years.  Stealing research and plans that would have or should have been the private property of US individuals and corporations.  Ideas and property that, had we maintained control, development and production of, would have resulted in jobs and improved the economy, thus, economic freedom of untold numbers of American citizens and many others internationally. 

Through these systems and processes Mr. Snowden outed, in detail it should be noted, the United States was searching for and finding this stolen property, what it was and possibly how it got there in order to stop this outright theft of intellectual property that is harming our economy. 

When the US economy is harmed, people lose their jobs, their homes and much more.   When the US economy is harmed, so to is our ability to project political power.  Power that is as often used to defend freedom globally as anything else.

What of matters of defense?  Are we to presume, as Mr. Snowden suggested, that in this detailed data information, there were no institutes, research or programs that did not constitute "legitimate military targets"?  Military intelligence that would keep us abreast of developments and help prepare defensive counter measures?  What are "legitimate targets" when, for decades, "war" has become total to include economic, production, political and physical structures?  Now to include electronics or "cyber". 

In Mr. Snowden et al's myopic view, the US and allies, in the name of some misbegotten and misshapen view of "global freedom", should refrain from such activities.  All the while, opposing states such as China, Russia, Iran, etc should be free to pummel, rape and dismantle us at will and without consequences.  As surely they will be able to now that they know the ways and means by which they to can act.  Above and beyond what they already know.  Above and beyond what ways and means they were tracking their own dissidents through whatever devices they already had at hand.

This is but a few of the "damages" this entire debacle has and will inflict to "freedom".  Some where amongst the tidal wave of destruction, is debate about our necessity for internal review of rights, freedoms and protections.  About the proper use and limitations of authority.  Some will claim that this discussion of Snowden's international circus of espionage is a distraction from this real and necessary debate.  That some how, what Mr. Snowden is doing now has no baring on this issue and still suggests he and others are working in the best interest of freedom.  Our freedom.

Bull shit.

Unfortunately, these are no longer separate issues.  It was never Mr.Snowden's intent to bolster US or western freedoms, but to offer a dribble to distract as he went traipsing around the world, offering this information to anyone BUT free nations.  Our alleged internal issue, long in debate, was a decoy, a smoke screen, so many have fallen for so easily and regurgitate without the slightest clue they are propagating propaganda.  The contortions that Mr. Snowden's defenders, et al, must go through to justify this act are breath taking examples of obtuseness and ideology over coming common sense.

The utopian view of global freedom, lack thereof and the equivalency of states as equal oppressors is a juvenile comprehension of reality.  It's this utopian "global freedom" that was meant to be propagated and has been, instead, struck an horrific blow.

What has Mr. Snowden et al done in reality for freedom around the world? 

Not a goddamned thing.

Mr. Snowden, International Man of Little Mystery: Spy Thriller of the Year

Whether Mr. Snowden broke any laws under the Espionage Act is not in question.  He did. 

Has NSA routinely, with malice afore thought, broken US laws & regulations regarding surveillance of US citizens, is still being sorted out.  Several former intelligence employees suggest that this is separate from Mr. Snowden's other acts and the question of whether he is a "hero" for American Liberties or "villain" of espionage. 

This is also now being suggested through multiple editorials & reporters.  All the while, Mr. Snowden's releases of information on intelligence activities have grown larger and more damaging regarding activities against foreign targets like China and Russia.  Particularly damaging as these seem to coincide with specific global political events including US President Obama meeting with the Chinese President Xi and then the G8 meeting where President Obama  suggested a nuclear draw down as well as discussions on Syria with Russian President Putin.  Discussions that went no where and left the United States appearing weaker on the global stage. 

While pundits are discussing US government conspiracies to allegedly monitor all US electronic communications, the real conspiracy is staring them in the face.  Mr. Snowden's acts of releasing info on alleged US domestic surveillance can no longer be separated from his other acts regarding foreign intelligence operations. 

The first release of information did exactly what it was supposed to do: distract.  It was a decoy and US and global media are "hoovering" it up, while the real story is that Mr Snowden "hoovered" specific intel FROM, not just "on" or "about", a very specific program which he technically was not cleared to have access to.

That bares repeating.  He copied very specific intel FROM a specific program including targeted foreign systems, computers, organizations, people, IPs, emails, etc.  That does not show his alleged "good intentions" to expose a specific bad act of a government agency against it's own citizens since he did not limit his acquisition or release to those specific acts. 

That is proven even more true when that intel included foreign activities and targets that was subsequently released as noted above.  The total quantity and type of information that is yet unknown.  At least by the public. 

Mr. Greenwald has claimed that there are literally thousands of documents to be combed through and evaluated.  We know by the release of information on the intelligence gathering against China to a Hong Kong paper that Mr. Greenwald & his fellows from the Washington Post do not have the only copies.  Further, that this specific information was readily known and provided with apparent ease which undermines the idea that it was "discovered" by an incidental review of the information. 

Mr. Snowden did not "luck into" a job at Booz Allen, but specifically worked towards gaining this position and access to information.  He did this through networking and subterfuge on his application.  He did this to gain access to that intelligence.  For whom or under what direction, if any, is still to be discovered. 

The entire episode, from start to finish, reads like a spy thriller or the script of a spy movie.  Mr. Snowden is acting from a very cleverly developed script.  Even some of his comments read like one liners from classic movies about spies and journalism (North by Northwest and Citizen Kane to name two).  That script includes a "good hearted, but ultimately flawed" pole dancing girlfriend whom Mr. Snowden graciously left behind, holding the bag. 

What essentially gives the game away that this is a pre-arranged script for espionage is the time frame of events.  Mr. Snowden had been employed by Booz Allen for only a few months prior to this event.  Hardly long enough to "discover" and review all of the information taken, decide there was a criminal government act underway, much less determine and arrange media contacts on that information, investigate and evaluate a country to escape to for "legal protection", arrange a safe place to stay, money, more media contacts, identity, etc.

Even an alleged genius such as Mr. Snowden would be hard pressed to achieve these feats alone in the allotted time frame.  This intelligence information was "the target", not an incidental discovery of a system administrator who accidentally discovered the range and scope of this program while plunking around his keyboard.

Another interesting part of this story is that long before Mr. Snowden obtained his position at Booz Allen, his tech forum account had specifically asked how to write a work around script for Windows to allow the download of two files/folders per day.  It would be safe to assume the purpose of this information was to be able to gain information slowly without setting off any particular alarms from any monitoring system. 

This is the likely method by which Mr. Snowden downloaded information to the four or more thumb drives or lap tops he then walked out of the office.  Simple, but effective.  Also thought out and arranged ahead of time.  Based on that information, simple extrapolation of days worked means he left with between forty and sixty files with an unknown number of attachments or documents.  Depending on whether the "two per day" method was maintained.

Another question is raised when Mr. Snowden claims to have been making a $200k/yr salary at Booz Allen.  The company disputed that claim indicating Snowden only made $122k/yr.  Mr. Snowden then claimed that $200k was the most he'd been paid at any of his jobs. 

The media and various pundits are hypnotized by the "decoy" first release of information on the program while Mr. Snowden is sitting on a trove of intelligence with an unknown scope and value to an unknown number of foreign nations.  Many of whom are no friends to the United States, United Kingdom or other allies.  It is myopic to assume that this information "only" contains electronic intelligence, without information on human assets, contacts or activities.  People's lives endangered, not just inanimate computer systems.

Mr. Snowden knew what information he was looking for and planned how to obtain it before he had access.  This is the essence of "espionage". 

Mr. Snowden and his potential co-conspirators or handlers have created the spy thriller of the year.  A well thought out script with specific plot points, not accidents of fate.  A script that has been refined over a length of time that started before Mr. Snowden's employment at Booz Allen. 

In this script, Mr. Snowden started this second act by portraying himself as a patriotic American protecting civil liberties.  He ended that act by releasing foreign intelligence on foreign targets, negating any idea of patriotism as the rationale for his behavior.  He has essentially blown his cover.

The third act in this spy thriller begins with the United States issuing a provisional warrant for Mr. Snowden, laying preliminary charges under the Espionage Act.  For those watching "the Great Game", the US has decided to force China's hand into the open by belaying his extradition or straight offering him "asylum". 

Stay tuned for the next act of Mr. Snowden, International Man of Mystery.