Poll Shows “Massive Swing” In Public View Of Terror/Liberty Trade Off Steve Watson Infowars.com July 10, 2013 Majority of Americans see Snowden as hero, despite relentless government and media attacks
A new scientific poll out this week finds that former NSA leaker Edward Snowden is viewed by the majority of Americans in a positive light as a whistleblower, and not a “traitor”, as the mainstream media and government officials would have it. The poll from Quinnipiac, also reveals that a plurality of registered voters believe that government antiterrorism programs have gone too far in stripping away liberties. When given the two options, 55% of poll respondents said that they believed Snowden to be a “whistleblower”, while only 34% see him as a “traitor.” The terms were used as an acknowledgement of the media talking point that has been repeated again and again since Snowden fled the US to Moscow, from where he is still seeking political asylum. The poll found that the description of Snowden as a whistle-blower and not a traitor was the majority opinion in practically every demographic of voter, regardless of party, gender, income, education or age. Only amongst black voters did more people say they thought Snowden to be a traitor, with the margin at 43% to 42%.
“The verdict that Snowden is not a traitor goes against almost the unified view of the nation’s political establishment,” commented Peter Brown, assistant director of Quinnipiac’s polling institute. Several elected officials, including House Speaker John Boehner, have referred to Snowden as a traitor, and have called for him to be given the harshest possible punishment. The findings have bolstered the results of similar polls undertaken when the news first broke last month in early June, and underscore the fact that people no longer believe the idea that exposing government surveillance of Americans makes the country less safe. Perhaps the more telling revelation from the poll is the fact that by a 45-40% margin, voters now believe that the government goes too far in restricting civil liberties in the name of anti-terrorism efforts. Those figures represent a monumental reversal from just over three years ago when the public told Quinnipiac by a 63-25 margin that the government didn’t go far enough. “The massive swing in public opinion about civil liberties and governmental anti-terrorism efforts, and the public view that Edward Snowden is more whistle-blower than traitor are the public reaction and apparent shock at the extent to which the government has gone in trying to prevent future terrorist incidents,” said Peter Brown. Put simply, Americans are no longer buying the idea that the threat of terrorism warrants their own government spying on them en mass. Neither do they believe that it is right to punish and demonize anyone who speaks out about it, just as an authoritarian regime would. The poll also revealed that both Democrats and Republicans were evenly divided on whether government counter-terrorism measures have become excessive. By a margin of 49 percent to 36 percent, independent voters said the government has taken things too far. “The fact that there is little difference now along party lines about the overall anti-terrorism effort and civil liberties and about Snowden is in itself unusual in a country sharply divided along political lines about almost everything,” Brown said. “It would be naive to see these numbers as anything but evidence of a rethinking by the public about the tradeoffs between security and freedom,” Brown added. In related news, Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who broke the Snowden leaks has revealed that Snowden has this week “vehemently denied media claims that he gave classified information to the governments of China or Russia.” ” He also denied assertions that one or both governments had succeeded in ‘draining the contents of his laptops’. ‘I never gave any information to either government, and they never took anything from my laptops,’ he said.” Greenwald explains how the claim was generated in the media without a shred of evidence, and subsequently spread everywhere as “truth”, being repeatedly cited in an effort to demonize Snowden.
Obama Orders Government Workers To Spy On One Another Nick Sorrentino againstcronycapitalism.org July 10, 2013 And this is where the bureaucratic snake starts to eat itself. Actually it began in 2011 after Bradley Manning did his thing, but it’s being reported now by McClatchy in the wake of Snowden’s revelations. Obama began the “Insider Threats Initiative” 2 years ago. Basically it works like this. Watch your co-workers and if they’re acting the slightest bit strange one had better report them, or face disciplinary or even legal action. Is Bill working late? Better report him. Coming in late? Better report him. Did he say the wrong thing? Better report him, or else you are on the hook too and you don’t want that do you? We give government workers a hard time all the time on this site, but living under the “Insider Threats Initiative” sounds pretty hellish. Even they shouldn’t have to look out over their shoulders every time they fill out a TPS report and toss it into the black hole which rotates in the center of DC. (From McClatchydc.com) Federal employees and contractors are asked to pay particular attention to the lifestyles, attitudes and behaviors – like financial troubles, odd working hours or unexplained travel – of co-workers as a way to predict whether they might do “harm to the United States.” Managers of special insider threat offices will have “regular, timely, and, if possible, electronic, access” to employees’ personnel, payroll, disciplinary and “personal contact” files, as well as records of their use of classified and unclassified computer networks, polygraph results, travel reports and financial disclosure forms. Click here for the article.
Obama Orders Government Workers To Spy On One Another Jonathan S. Landay and Marisa Taylor McClatchy July 10, 2013
In an initiative aimed at rooting out future leakers and other security violators, President Barack Obama has ordered federal employees to report suspicious actions of their colleagues based on behavioral profiling techniques that are not scientifically proven to work, according to experts and government documents. The techniques are a key pillar of the Insider Threat Program, an unprecedented government-wide crackdown under which millions of federal bureaucrats and contractors must watch out for “high-risk persons or behaviors” among co-workers. Those who fail to report them could face penalties, including criminal charges. Under the program, which is being implemented with little public attention, security investigations can be launched when government employees showing “indicators of insider threat behavior” are reported by co-workers, according to previously undisclosed administration documents obtained by McClatchy. Investigations also can be triggered when “suspicious user behavior” is detected by computer network monitoring and reported to “insider threat personnel.” Federal employees and contractors are asked to pay particular attention to the lifestyles, attitudes and behaviors – like financial troubles, odd working hours or unexplained travel – of co-workers as a way to predict whether they might do “harm to the United States.” Managers of special insider threat offices will have “regular, timely, and, if possible, electronic, access” to employees’ personnel, payroll, disciplinary and “personal contact” files, as well as records of their use of classified and unclassified computer networks, polygraph results, travel reports and financial disclosure forms. Full article here
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