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I believe that Edward Snowden is a traitor and has betrayed The United States and its people. Snowden mentioned in his interview with Glenn Greenwald in Hong Kong, June 2013: “This is something that’s not our place to decide, the public needs to decide whether this programs and policies are right or wrong” (Snowden). First, his job is to be a computer system administrator for a government agency, that is all, he is not being paid to make decisions whether something is right or wrong. Second, he is not in the position to decide whether the public should know something or not, and that is why he swore under oath to keep all secrets to himself, to stay away from that state of mind in whether to reveal a secret or not. We have a government were the people select the leaders and we put our trust in the people that are adequate to maintain order and to make decisions that will benefit the people and the nation. If such people think that is it necessary to create a program where they monitor calls, e-mails, messages, etc, then let them do so because they are doing it for the security of our nation and to maintain peace in and out of the country. Moreover, We live in a world where privacy is becoming more of an idea than a reality, people might think thatgovernment is taking it away but that is not true, we are giving away our own privacy. We live in a time when we do not mind using “EZ-Passes that give us access to the fast lane in exchange for keeping the government informed about where we drive.” (Hirsh and Sorcher) We buy things off the Internet where websites can keep out credit card numbers, and other personal information, such as your address, etc. We go to Facebook to see what people are doing, where they are at, what they like, where they live, most visited places, and things that we might think they are unimportant but to a kidnapper, a rapist, a robber, this are key items to facilitate their acts. And that is just an example of one of the many social networks are being used today. We give up our privacy by just going on the Internet where we are all targets because “Advertisers are searching for you… all based on your search-engine terms and the cookies deposited on your computer to watch you surf the Internet and report back on your habits.” (Hirsh and Sorcher) we all allow those cookies into our computers and we don’t think is wrong, but when someone says that the government is monitoring you then all of the sudden you think they are violation your privacy when you have already given your personal information to others. All I am trying to prove here is that we live in a world where most people are not thinking ‘Am I being watched?’ and people don’t care if they are under surveillance, if you are not doing something wrong then why worry so much about being watched. I have attached a video to demonstrate how we give up privacy and personal information just through social media. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P_0s1TYpJU
Another point to add is that Snowden had leaked programs that are not illegal because they are authorized under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act according to CNN article “In a first, U.S. to use NSA surveillance against terror suspect” By Evan Perez and Michael Martinez. So this jeopardizes National security not only by revealing such program but also because government does not know who is getting the information being leaked. So why would you jeopardize national security when these programs are already authorized, just because you think is right doesn’t mean it actually is.The same article named above proves that these secret programs do work whenever they need to find evidence and prevent possible terrorist attacks. As mentioned in the article; A terror suspect “has been charged with providing and attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization” (Perez and Martinez) The organization he was going to provide information was The Islamic Jihad Union, “a Pakistan-based extremist group with an anti-Western ideology” (Perez and Martinez) such group is known for conducting suicide attacks in Uzbekistan. The suspect “allegedly has sworn allegiance to the IJU, stating that he was ‘ready for any task, even with the risk of dying,’” (Perez and Martinez) so this proves that the programs prevented a possible terrorist attack.
concerned about.
Works Cited
Perez, Evan. "In a First, U.S. to Use NSA Surveillance against Terror Suspect." CNN. Cable News Network, 26 Oct. 2013. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.
Hirsh, Michael, and Sara Sorcher. "Edward Snowden Is Completely Wrong." National Journal (2013): 35. Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.
"NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I Don't Want to Live in a Society That Does These Sort of Things'" YouTube. YouTube, 09 June 2013. Web. 09 Dec. 2013.
"Edward Snowden Duped NSA Co-workers." NY Daily News. NY Daily News, 8 Nov. 2013. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.
Vale, Jack. "SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERIMENT." YouTube. YouTube, 18 Nov. 2013. Web. 09 Dec. 2013.
{Works Cited For Final Research Paper - ENG 1302.docx}
Jesus Salas

Jesus Salas
Final Research
English 1302
Professor: Steven Wolfe
Edward Snowden: Hero, Traitor or Whistleblower?
What is a hero? What is a traitor? Who do we consider to fall into one of these categories? To many a hero can be someone that does a good deed for them, as simple as that. For other a hero is someone who does an act of valor for his or her nation. I would fall into the category of people that would think that just a good deed could be heroic. A traitor is a person who betrays his or her country, friends, family, etc. According to the Webster Dictionary a whistleblower is “a person who tells police, reporters, etc., about something (such as a crime) that has been kept secret”. Knowing these definitions: what would we consider Edward Snowden? A hero, a traitor or a whistleblower.
Edward Snowden is a computer specialist, a former CIA employee, and former NSA contractor who “persuaded between 20 and 25 fellow workers at the NSA regional operations center in Hawaii to give him their logins and passwords” (NYDailyNews) for the purpose of leaking up to 200,000 classified documents to the press. This is an issue because it has opened the debate over mass surveillance done by the government and to what extend they are doing the surveillance, government secrecy and creation of programs not revealed to the public, and the balance between national security and information privacy. The leaking of such documents has raised controversy among citizens concerned with civil liberties and especially to the radical people that already think our freedom is being jeopardized. Notonly that, but also, revealing such documents put our national security at risk because government doesn’t know who is going to obtain such documents and to what extend they are going to use them.
I believe that Edward Snowden is a traitor and has betrayed The United States and its people. Snowden mentioned in his interview with Glenn Greenwald in Hong Kong, June 2013: “This is something that’s not our place to decide, the public needs to decide whether this programs and policies are right or wrong” (Snowden). First, his job is to be a computer system administrator for a government agency, that is all, he is not being paid to make decisions whether something is right or wrong. Second, he is not in the position to decide whether the public should know something or not, and that is why he swore under oath to keep all secrets to himself, to stay away from that state of mind in whether to reveal a secret or not. We have a government were the people select the leaders and we put our trust in the people that are adequate to maintain order and to make decisions that will benefit the people and the nation. If such people think that is it necessary to create a program where they monitor calls, e-mails, messages, etc, then let them do so because they are doing it for the security of our nation and to maintain peace in and out of the country. Moreover, We live in a world where privacy is becoming more of an idea than a reality, people might think thatgovernment is taking it away but that is not true, we are giving away our own privacy. We live in a time when we do not mind using “EZ-Passes that give us access to the fast lane in exchange for keeping the government informed about where we drive.” (Hirsh and Sorcher) We buy things off the Internet where websites can keep out credit card numbers, and other personal information, such as your address, etc. We go to Facebook to see what people are doing, where they are at, what they like, where they live, most visited places, and things that we might think they are unimportant but to a kidnapper, a rapist, a robber, this are key items to facilitate their acts. And that is just an example of one of the many social networks are being used today. We give up our privacy by just going on the Internet where we are all targets because “Advertisers are searching for you… all based on your search-engine terms and the cookies deposited on your computer to watch you surf the Internet and report back on your habits.” (Hirsh and Sorcher) we all allow those cookies into our computers and we don’t think is wrong, but when someone says that the government is monitoring you then all of the sudden you think they are violation your privacy when you have already given your personal information to others. All I am trying to prove here is that we live in a world where most people are not thinking ‘Am I being watched?’ and people don’t care if they are under surveillance, if you are not doing something wrong then why worry so much about being watched. I have attached a video to demonstrate how we give up privacy and personal information just through social media. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P_0s1TYpJU
Another point to add is that Snowden had leaked programs that are not illegal because they are authorized under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act according to CNN article “In a first, U.S. to use NSA surveillance against terror suspect” By Evan Perez and Michael Martinez. So this jeopardizes National security not only by revealing such program but also because government does not know who is getting the information being leaked. So why would you jeopardize national security when these programs are already authorized, just because you think is right doesn’t mean it actually is.The same article named above proves that these secret programs do work whenever they need to find evidence and prevent possible terrorist attacks. As mentioned in the article; A terror suspect “has been charged with providing and attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization” (Perez and Martinez) The organization he was going to provide information was The Islamic Jihad Union, “a Pakistan-based extremist group with an anti-Western ideology” (Perez and Martinez) such group is known for conducting suicide attacks in Uzbekistan. The suspect “allegedly has sworn allegiance to the IJU, stating that he was ‘ready for any task, even with the risk of dying,’” (Perez and Martinez) so this proves that the programs prevented a possible terrorist attack.
In conclusion, I think that Edward Snowden is a traitor because he revealed documents that were suppose to remain secret; he broke his oath, and also jeopardized our national security by revealing something that many people were not concerned about.
{Works Cited For Final Research Paper - ENG 1302.docx}
Jesus Salas
Essay #3

general
See comments. Overall very clear, well-constructed, covers everything necessary stated in the rubric.

comment added
Cut. Just say, "Our educational system is broken." We know it's what you think because you are writing it.

comment added
1. You need to provide specific references that show how you know this is what he thinks.
2. He does say specifically what he thinks the problem is.

comment added
Ok useful opening