Glenn Greenwald tells Edward Snowden about the 2nd leaker. Yahoo/AP
The FBI is claiming to have identified the person who was responsible for recent leaks regarding the governments terrorism watchlist. -Yahoo News. A criminal investigation has been opened an the suspects home has been searched. Some insiders think that nothing will come from the investigation due to wariness on the part of the Justice Department, who has faced scathing criticism in their overzealous prosecution of government leakers. The story, which appeared in The Intercept, was based on documents dated after Edward Snowden had already been revealed. For his part Snowden praised the leaker calling him or her "incredibly brave". The report itself details the federal TIDE program that decides who gets put on terrorist watchlists.
My Comment:
The Intercept article can be found here.
As for the Yahoo report, I think the claim that they won't prosecute is extremely dubious. If there is one thing the Obama administration hates more then anything else it is leakers. They were rightly criticized for their heavy handed tactics in handling all the recent leaks and have given no indication that they are going to change that. If anything this leaker is in serious danger and should consider fleeing the country. The best case scenario for him or her is spending a very long time in a jail cell.
As for the impact of the story it's a great example of someone being inspired by someone else's bravery. Edward Snowden gave up his entire life to expose the abuses by the NSA, which was a major act of courage. Whoever this second leaker is, he or she saw more abuses and decided that they too would act instead of sitting by and letting it happen. We need more people like this and they should be protected from government persecution. Intelligence gathering has for too long been a grey area in America. It needs to be brought into the light so the American people can decide if it is justified or not.
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