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This is a copy of a letter in The Washington Times on June 26, 2013.
Also online from the publisher.
Please cite as: Deflem, Mathieu. 2013. "Don't Give Snowden What He Wants." Letter to the Editor. The Washington Times, June 26, 2013.
We have learned from National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden that intelligence services are involved in gathering intelligence. How remarkable. What have we learned from Mr. Snowden himself other than his self-serving motivations? Why should we accept his self-righteous assertions that he is only interested in exposing alleged criminality and that, by doing so, he will never be safe again?
What evidence is there to suggest that U.S. authorities are out to get Mr. Snowden when all his statements about government power reflect the predispositions of his own politics? Mr. Snowden keeps telling us he does not want to be in the spotlight. What an odd choice he made, then, in seeking exposure on this matter by contacting the global news media.
I hope U.S. authorities will do the right thing and continue to investigate this matter — but without targeting Mr. Snowden himself. That is exactly what he wants. Let’s hope Mr. Snowden will soon be relegated to the life of obscurity he claims to so desire. Then he can finally feel safe from us, and us from him.
Mathieu Deflem
Columbia, S.C.
See related letter in The Guardian.
