Edward Snowden Subverted the Democratic Process

Richard Moberly

Richard Moberly is an associate dean and a professor of law at the University of Nebraska College of Law. He is on Twitter.

June 11, 2013

We may disagree on how best to balance secrecy with transparency when it comes to national security, but Edward Snowden’s leak presents a different question: who should do this balancing?

The judgment of whether the N.S.A.’s surveillance program should have remained secret requires a sensitive negotiation among privacy rights, our country’s need for security and our collective right to know about government operations. In our democratic republic, the responsibility for navigating these vital interests does not lie with a 29-year-old government contractor.

The choice before us is stark: encourage unelected, unaccountable people to make crucial decisions, or trust voters and the democratic process.

Sometimes a national security program needs secrecy to be effective, and elected and judicial officials are charged with weighing the value of transparency against the national security benefits of secrecy. That happened in this case: All three government branches approved the program. Snowden and other citizens have the right to disagree – but he does not have the right to usurp the democratic process by leaking national security information.

Like Pfc. Bradley Manning, Snowden ignored ways he could have objected to the program without publicly disclosing it, such as through an inspector general or to a sympathetic member of Congress. Whistle-blowers should disclose inside information about illegalities and abuse of power, but they should do it responsibly, especially when dealing with national security. Because Snowden chose the irresponsible route, the law rightly permits his prosecution.

Although we may not like the decisions that our leaders made regarding the N.S.A. program, the choice before us is whether we would rather live with their judgment or encourage unelected, unaccountable people to decide instead.

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Topics: Law, leaks, national security

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