The first to drip details about the NSA’s extensive home security activities was Edward Snowden.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., an independent candidate for president, asserts that if elected, he would “investigate the problem and offences he exposed” and may pardon whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Former National Security Agency ( NSA ) contractor Mr. Snowden leaked details about the agency’s extensive domestic surveillance activities during the Obama administration. He fled the United States in 2013 amid spy allegations that could have resulted in his being imprisoned for 30 years or more.
His bravery led Congress to for the first time in forty times to restrain the intelligence community’s security power, according to Mr. Kennedy.
” The America I love does n’t punish whistleblowers. He further reaffirmed that truth-telling individuals who support free speech and attempt to reclaim America’s political and charitable ideals should be revered rather than punished.
Some people have praised Mr. Snowden’s behavior while others have demonized him. He claims that he made the revelations because he thought the American intelligence society had violated civil liberties too much.
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But, a 2020 U. S. appeals court found that the system Mr. Snowden had exposed was unconstitutional, and that the U. S. officers who had publicly defended it were n’t telling the truth.
RFK Jr. Represents a request for Snowden’s pardon.
In addition to his speech, Mr. Kennedy also unveiled a petition urging at least 300,000 signatures to be collected to encourage the Biden administration to work and forgive Mr. Snowden so he can be free to travel to the United States.
” Due to Edward Snowden, nobody knew the intelligence agencies were improperly mining all of our information and spying on British people”, Mr. Kennedy said.
It’s not surprising that imprisoned officials are supporting Snowden’s claims that the same intelligence companies are now trying to portray him as a criminal, he said.
According to Mr. Kennedy’s message on the petition, whistleblowers like Daniel Ellsberg, John Kiriakou, Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, and Julian Assange were n’t betraying America by revealing government corruption.
” But instead of championing completely talk and celebrating these reality- tellers, now our government earnestly persecutes journalists and whistleblowers”, the message says.
” This is n’t the Soviet Union. The America I love does n’t imprison dissidents. Because of this, our founders regarded free speech as the foundation of our other rights. If you give a government license to silence its critics, it now has license for any atrocity”.
Mr. Snowden currently lives in Moscow with his American wife, Lindsey Mills. In 2022, he took the citizenship oath after receiving a Russian passport. As a result, he can no longer be extradited to a foreign country.
Mr. Snowden claims that the White House purposefully revoked his passport and stifled all attempts to leave the country as another reason he applied for Russian citizenship. It’s unclear whether he has renounced his U. S. citizenship.
