Print publication: Wednesday, June 19
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The U.S. government does not deny Edward Snowden's assertions that the
. Rather, it attempts to sanitize and justify the spying. Big Brother is definitely watching and makes no bones about it.
The Snowden leak raises the issue of betrayal ("Is Snowden a traitor?" Emily Bazelon column, June 14), but the question is, who is betraying whom?
Governments spy on those whom they fear and distrust. Our government unabashedly spies on us, "we the people." It apparently fears and distrusts us -- millions and millions of us. So security-state agencies and their minions trample our Fourth Amendment protections against unwarranted government intrusion with impunity.
How can they do this? Members of Congress, in a hysterical spasm of fear 12 years ago, authorized this violation. Presidents cooperate and collude. Agency heads dissemble and dodge.
Yes, betrayal is the issue. The American people have indeed been betrayed, but not by Edward Snowden.
BETSY TOLL
Southeast Portland
For the sake of our security, the tiny fraction of Americans who serve in the military spent more than 10 years fighting two wars halfway around the world. More than 6,700 have lost their lives, as have tens of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans, with countless others maimed or wounded. Foreign terrorist suspects have been treated in ways forbidden here at home, and the multitrillion-dollar cost of it all is being pushed off on our grandchildren.
Which brings me to the outcry over the National Security Agency's warrantless tracking of our overseas communications, which is trivial by comparison. Don't get me wrong. I like my privacy as much as the next person and agree we should be vigilant against the slippery slope.
But the current outcry denigrates the vastly greater price that others have paid for our security and sends military families and the Muslim world an unflattering message about what and who matters most to Americans.
DAVID HICKS
Salem
Regarding the guest commentary "Mountain or molehill? Why data mining makes sense" (June 15): I am grateful for those notices of unusual activity on my credit card, in the same way I'm glad to have a police officer nearby when needed. Government data mining of phone records is an entirely different question.
U.S. history is replete with examples of state power gone off the rails, from officials tapping Martin Luther King Jr.'s phones to improper monitoring of anti-war and anti-nuclear activists.
The real issue is whether safeguards are built into this security system to prevent abuse. Most workers in the field are well-intentioned. Worry about the rogues who are not and who will use their access to information to manipulate events for their own ends, which have little relationship to national security, even if they fool themselves (or you) into thinking that they do. "Trust me" is not sufficient.
Thanks to Edward Snowden for bringing this issue to prominence before it is too late.
MARK ALBANESE
Southwest Portland
Regarding the guest commentary by Paul F. deLespinasse ("Mountain or molehill? Why data mining makes sense," June 15): The author compares his credit card company's ability to inform him of unusual patterns or charges that occur without his knowledge to the U.S. government's data mining program.
There is, of course, a huge difference, which apparently escaped deLespinasse. The credit card company requires him to agree to its "Terms of Agreement," which includes monitoring transactions for the benefit of the bank and the customer, in order to use the credit card.
I am not aware of any such agreement between the people of the United States and their government.
DENNIS E. LARSON
Milwaukie
Letter writer Lee Richey (June 14) thinks letter writer Glenn Koehrsen (June 12) is silly for being concerned that companies collect so much data on individuals. "The private sector cannot intimidate you, indict you, try you in a court of law, imprison you with or without charges, or even execute you," Richey explains, but "the government can."
But the government can also secretly and legally take all of the information that private companies collect on us. That's what The Guardian just proved by publicizing the National Security Agency's collection of Verizon phone records.
While we're at it, right above Richey's letter, letter writer Louis Sargent blames liberals and social democrats for creating big government. It is utterly inarguable that conservatives have enlarged the government just as much as anyone else, and it seems they're the ones most eager to fritter away our rights in exchange for a promise of safety.
The USA Patriot Act, the legislation that gave the NSA so many of its sweeping and secret powers, was knee-jerk conservatism at its worst, and the current crop of GOP legislators are tripping over each other to gut more of our rights.
BRIAN SANTO
Southeast Portland
Brandon Katrena, in his letter to the editor on June 14, stated that the National Security Agency leaker "should have remained loyal to our government."
I will remain loyal to my government as long as it is loyal to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Seems fair to me.
JON C. BAKER
Gresham
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