SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden said Friday that Section 702 of FISA would never have been reauthorized this week if Congress had been aware of alleged abuses detailed in a government memo. (Photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr/cc)
In Name of Transparency, Not Partisan Sniping, Snowden Backs Call to #ReleaseTheMemo
"If true, the citizens must see the proof," says NSA whistleblower. "If false, it establishes [GOP chairman of House Intelligence Committee] lies and has no credibility. Either outcome benefits the public."
Jan 19, 2018
Edward Snowden joined those calling for officials to release a memo that's said to have information about the government's surveillance abuses. The secrecy of the document, according to the NSA whistleblower, contributed to the reauthorization of a government spying bill narrowly approved by Congress this week.
The vote to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) for six more years, which came despite the objections of privacy and civil liberties advocates, will allow the government to spy on the electronic communications of Americans without a warrant.
And the ACLU agreed:
Calls to #ReleaseTheMemo have been heard largely from Republicans including Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who was cleared by an ethics committee last month of giving classified information to the Trump administration as he accused the Obama administration of revealing the names of U.S. officials in documents gathered through foreign surveillance.
Snowden denied that he was aligning himself with Nunes generally, arguing that transparency about a memo that could impact the privacy of Americans, should be out in the open for the good of all citizens regardless of political affiliations.
Ugh, you planting your flag with @DevinNunes ?
-- Peter B (@StrangeCapn) January 19, 2018
In his series of tweets, Snowden acknowledged that right-wing pundits and GOP lawmakers could very well being using the "release the memo" call as a self-serving political distraction, but said there are easy ways to test whether or not this is true:
Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Steve King (R-Iowa), both of whom have called for an end to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, are among those calling for a release of the memo.
Meanwhile, journalist Glenn Greenwald, who reported some of the most hard-hitting stories based on the NSA documents leaked by Snowden, also joined the call for transparency even as he, too, made it clear he wasn't interested in aligning with Donald Trump Jr. or others using the demand as a cynical ploy:
Indeed, Greenwald made it clear that it remains House Republicans and President Trump himself, not Democrats, who have the clear authority to make the document public:
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Edward Snowden joined those calling for officials to release a memo that's said to have information about the government's surveillance abuses. The secrecy of the document, according to the NSA whistleblower, contributed to the reauthorization of a government spying bill narrowly approved by Congress this week.
The vote to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) for six more years, which came despite the objections of privacy and civil liberties advocates, will allow the government to spy on the electronic communications of Americans without a warrant.
And the ACLU agreed:
Calls to #ReleaseTheMemo have been heard largely from Republicans including Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who was cleared by an ethics committee last month of giving classified information to the Trump administration as he accused the Obama administration of revealing the names of U.S. officials in documents gathered through foreign surveillance.
Snowden denied that he was aligning himself with Nunes generally, arguing that transparency about a memo that could impact the privacy of Americans, should be out in the open for the good of all citizens regardless of political affiliations.
Ugh, you planting your flag with @DevinNunes ?
-- Peter B (@StrangeCapn) January 19, 2018
In his series of tweets, Snowden acknowledged that right-wing pundits and GOP lawmakers could very well being using the "release the memo" call as a self-serving political distraction, but said there are easy ways to test whether or not this is true:
Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Steve King (R-Iowa), both of whom have called for an end to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, are among those calling for a release of the memo.
Meanwhile, journalist Glenn Greenwald, who reported some of the most hard-hitting stories based on the NSA documents leaked by Snowden, also joined the call for transparency even as he, too, made it clear he wasn't interested in aligning with Donald Trump Jr. or others using the demand as a cynical ploy:
Indeed, Greenwald made it clear that it remains House Republicans and President Trump himself, not Democrats, who have the clear authority to make the document public:
Edward Snowden joined those calling for officials to release a memo that's said to have information about the government's surveillance abuses. The secrecy of the document, according to the NSA whistleblower, contributed to the reauthorization of a government spying bill narrowly approved by Congress this week.
The vote to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) for six more years, which came despite the objections of privacy and civil liberties advocates, will allow the government to spy on the electronic communications of Americans without a warrant.
And the ACLU agreed:
Calls to #ReleaseTheMemo have been heard largely from Republicans including Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who was cleared by an ethics committee last month of giving classified information to the Trump administration as he accused the Obama administration of revealing the names of U.S. officials in documents gathered through foreign surveillance.
Snowden denied that he was aligning himself with Nunes generally, arguing that transparency about a memo that could impact the privacy of Americans, should be out in the open for the good of all citizens regardless of political affiliations.
Ugh, you planting your flag with @DevinNunes ?
-- Peter B (@StrangeCapn) January 19, 2018
In his series of tweets, Snowden acknowledged that right-wing pundits and GOP lawmakers could very well being using the "release the memo" call as a self-serving political distraction, but said there are easy ways to test whether or not this is true:
Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Steve King (R-Iowa), both of whom have called for an end to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, are among those calling for a release of the memo.
Meanwhile, journalist Glenn Greenwald, who reported some of the most hard-hitting stories based on the NSA documents leaked by Snowden, also joined the call for transparency even as he, too, made it clear he wasn't interested in aligning with Donald Trump Jr. or others using the demand as a cynical ploy:
Indeed, Greenwald made it clear that it remains House Republicans and President Trump himself, not Democrats, who have the clear authority to make the document public:
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.