Evidently some republican leaning prior to this snippet.
However, therein lies one of the problems with laws like the patriot act. If for nothing but political reasons no president will now dismantle the patriot act even if they could. Then have a terrorist attack on their watch after doing that. Whichever party they belonged to would be walking in the wilderness for at least five years.
And, we have come so polarized in the US even a discussion about this will be colored by political belief. Few had a problem with the Patriot Act when the ghoul conceived it. Now all of a sudden this president should dismantle it somehow. Even though there’s been no attack on American soil. But, even this statement could be argued for days.
Snowden signed prior to receiving that security clearance. As I did and many other defense workers have done over the years. If memory serves me the law under which you would be prosecuted was spelled out in that section where you signed. I know for my generation that was no small thing. So in my mind any discussion of young Mr. Snowden comes right back to his security clearance.
And, my thoughts about the NSA overreaching are not relevant in that discussion. Or, my concerns about a ‘Big Brother’ state. And, I also have these concerns. And, my understanding is these concerns are being addressed without talk of dismantling the entire intelligence program. A program which has shared intelligence with other countries by the way. One of my biggest concerns is the number of subcontractors involved. One could argue Snowden shouldn’t have had access to the information in the first place.
However, the terrorist haven’t gone anywhere so now we are dependent on politicians to reign in what many have viewed as a abuse of power from day one. Snowden could have done this in other ways I believe.