Secrets and Lies

"We all have a stake in this, this is our country and the balance of power between the citizenry and the government is becoming that of the ruling and the ruled as opposed to actually, you know, the elected and the electorate." -- Edward Snowden, "Citizenfour"

"Citizenfour" is the documentary about Edward Snowden, the NSA analyst-turned whistleblower who blew the lid off a comprehensive government program to spy on, and collect information from citizens all over the world. It was a glimpse behind the scenes and a chance to hear from Snowden, himself. The film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary feature, largely due to the subject matter and the way it broke ground.

By now everyone has heard of Snowden, and there are a variety of opinions on him. Some hail him a hero, “Edward Snowden isn't a traitor. He reported the crime of conspiracy to deny citizens of their constitutional rights," said David Chiles.

Others believe Snowden is a traitor. President Barack Obama said, "If any individual who objects to government policy can take it into their own hands to publicly disclose classified information, then we will not be able to keep our people safe, or conduct foreign policy. Moreover, the sensational way in which these disclosures have come out has often shed more heat than light, while revealing methods to our adversaries that could impact our operations in ways that we may not fully understand for years to come."

For my part, I am not sure what to make of Snowden. In "Citizenfour" I was moved by his commitment to the idea what he was doing was right. And, at least in what he says in the film, there was a commitment to protect secrets that would people's lives at risk. Whether that was accomplished or not is debatable.

Doubtless the scope of these spying programs strips American, and many of its allies, of basic freedom in the name of security. That is part of a long, ongoing debate about what we can and should sacrifice for security. And this isn't new. It's been happening since before our country was formed. Benjamin Franklin once famously said, "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." You have to wonder what Franklin and his fellow Founding Fathers would think about where our nation is.

But on the other side, we know what it is to be the victim of terrorist attack. Each September we remember the images, the lives lost, the fear. We can't help but feel that must be avoided at all costs. And that cost, it appears, is our privacy, our liberty. So what are we to think.

To be honest, I'm not surprised the government collects our e-mails, listens to our calls, and invades our privacy. And I believe that those that have nothing to hide should have nothing to fear from this data collection.

But we must weigh that with our justice system, which seems seriously flawed. So do we trust our government, and that justice system, to respectfully handle the information gathered? Can we trust them? That's where the data collection becomes more dubious.

Is Snowden a hero? I'm not sure. He acted out of conviction and said he was willing to suffer the penalty for his actions, but I can't help but wonder if that's true. And even though he acted out of deep personal conviction and a purported love of country, does that make what he did right? I'm not sure.

Then there's our government, and it's invasive tactics. How to feel about that?

"Citizenfour" asks hard questions, one for which we still have no answers. In this age of information, we are in uncharted territory.