On NSA Stories, Snowden and Journalism

By Glenn Greenwald, Guardian UK

01 July 13

Discussing the implications of the last four week's of articles, revelations and debates.

ast night, I gave my first speech on the NSA stories, Edward Snowden and related issues of journalism, delivered to the Socialism 2013 Conference in Chicago. Because it was my first speech since the episode began, it was the first time I was able to pause a moment and reflect on everything that has taken place and what the ramifications are. I was originally scheduled to speak live but was unable to travel there and thus spoke via an (incredibly crisp) Skype video connection. I was introduced by Jeremy Scahill, whose own speech is well worth watching. Those interested can view the entire speech in this recorder; below it are a few articles worth reading:

(1) The New York Times has an Op-Ed from Thursday by law professors Jennifer Stisa Granick and Christopher Jon Sprigman entitled "The Criminal NSA". It argues, citing recent revelations, that "it's time to call the NSA's mass surveillance programs what they are: criminal."

(2) The New York Times' excellent public editor, Margaret Sullivan, examines recent debates over who is and is not a "journalist" and provides one of the best working definitions yet. Matt Taibbi addresses the same question here. Meanwhile, former New York Times columnist Frank Rich argues that whatever "journalist" means, David Gregory doesn't qualify.

(3) Edward Snowden isn't the first NSA whistleblower of this decade. He was preceded by senior official Thomas Drake, who was unsuccessfully prosecuted by the Obama DOJ under espionage statutes and previously wrote that he saw the same things at the NSA that Snowden says prompted him to come forward. Another was William Binney, the long-time NSA mathematician who resigned in the wake of 9/11 over the NSA's domestic spying; as this article notes, the last set of documents we published regarding bulk collection of email metadata vindicates many of Binney's central warnings.

(4) A bipartisan group of 26 Senators just wrote a letter to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper demanding answers to some fairly probing questions about the administration's collection of bulk communication records on Americans, the "secret law" on which they relied, and their clearly misleading claims to Congress.

(5) It's well worth finding 9 minutes to watch this Chris Hayes discussion of how establishment journalists love leaks that serve the interests of political officials, but hate leaks that disclose what those officials want to keep suppressed. This is the heart and soul of establishment journalism - its true purpose - revealed: