It has been two years since Edward Snowden revealed to the world the programs behind the largest mass surveillance programs ever mounted by a government against its own citizens. The fact that it was taking place here, in the land of the free and home of the brave was a sad day for the constitutional republic knows as the United States.
Since his revelations, we have seen a professional and public outcry that has led to the expiration of parts of the Patriot Act (a misnomer if there ever was one), and the passage of the USA Freedom Act.
For the past two years Snowden had lived in exile in Russia. It is time for him to come back home. Would it be too much to ask the “transparency” president to grant him a Presidential pardon? Probably. Obama the candidate said he stood for open government, and promised to get us out of two ill considered wars. Obama the President took the very policies and programs he criticized George Bush for, and extended them in ways that I bet even George never dreamed of.
Nevertheless, I do hope that Snowden is able to return to the US someday, and sooner rather than later. May the next President will see fit to recognize Snowden for what he truly is – a real patriot.
More:
Share
JUL
About the Author:
I am a cybersecurity and IT instructor, cybersecurity analyst, pen-tester, trainer, and speaker. I am an owner of the WyzCo Group Inc. In addition to consulting on security products and services, I also conduct security audits, compliance audits, vulnerability assessments and penetration tests. I also teach Cybersecurity Awareness Training classes. I work as an information technology and cybersecurity instructor for several training and certification organizations. I have worked in corporate, military, government, and workforce development training environments I am a frequent speaker at professional conferences such as the Minnesota Bloggers Conference, Secure360 Security Conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, the (ISC)2 World Congress 2016, and the ISSA International Conference 2017, and many local community organizations, including Chambers of Commerce, SCORE, and several school districts. I have been blogging on cybersecurity since 2006 at http://wyzguyscybersecurity.com