I was very pleased to see President Obama’s decision to commute Chelsea Manning’s sentence today, and not just because it gave Paul Ryan the zings . The New York Times provides some interesting context:
The act of clemency could be seen as a reversal, at least in part, of the Obama administration’s unprecedented criminal crackdown on leaking: The administration has brought charges in about nine cases, about twice as many as under all previous presidents combined.
At this stage in a presidency, the temptation to focus on ‘legacy’ tends to be dominant. Undoubtedly this will be viewed as an act of mercy, considering Ms. Manning’s highly publicized personal struggles, and that will impact Obama’s legacy favorably. But his unwillingness to consider a similar pardon for Edward Snowden will leave a lingering stain on the White House carpet beyond January 20th. As we usher in the deliberately disreputable presidency of Donald Trump, our nation is wrestling with these three connected issues:
- Widespread distrust/cumulative failure of news sources to consistently report truthfully and accurately
- Deliberate dissemination of misinformation from both domestic and foreign actors
- A new administration with clear disdain for news media (not to mention the concept of transparency)
Candidate Obama promised to foster a transparent and accountable administration, and his critics argue he’s failed in that regard. Consider Snowden’s transgressions – through his work in the intelligence apparatus he became aware of surveillance activity our government was engaging in without our consent…activity that the Director of the NSA falsely denied under oath in 2013. Snowden believed that, as a citizen, it was his duty to inform his fellow Americans of this fraudulent activity perpetrated by our government. He sought no profit from these disclosures, and arguably acted at great personal peril (the fact that the government elected to charge him as a spy as opposed to a thief is an important distinction). The pardoning of Snowden would not only bolster Obama’s legacy of decency, but also his stated pledge of transparency.
The debate on Snowden’s actions tended to center around whether he was a hero or a traitor – so much so that it became a distraction from the questions we (as a country) should have focused on in light of these disclosures: exactly what level of privacy and freedom are we willing to sacrifice in the name of security, and how should we hold our government accountable for its chronic and unwarranted surveillance of our personal lives? The administration’s comments today suggested the difference between the Manning and Snowden cases are that Manning “acknowledged wrongdoing” and took her medicine where Snowden fled to “an adversary” (you may recall that prior to the election of President Inevitable, Russia was considered an adversary). This doesn’t really hold water, considering Snowden has offered more than once to return and face a jury, if a fair trial was of interest to the government. No response.
As a point of reference, let’s not forget that within a month of taking office Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon for all his depravity – and his particular brand of smarmy criminality was inarguable. HW Bush pardoned Casper Weinberger for his role in the Iran-Contra affair (even though his diary later revealed he may have done so because Bush himself was likely to have been incriminated had that gone to trial). Even the confederate soldiers were pardoned by Andrew Johnson in 1868 – each and every surviving officer who had fought for the south. As a reminder, these soldiers would have been considered enemies of the Republic during the war. Have Snowden’s misdeeds exceeded any of these in impact?
So now we transition to the presidency of a man who publicly shared his nuanced take on Snowden a few years ago (in short – kill him). The country is torn. We have president-elect entering office with a chip on his shoulder, and a base who applauds his dismissal of the press. His detractors recognize his autocratic tendencies, and fear the creative iniquities which will be conjured in the dark and executed in our name. Will the next Snowden find the courage? Thanks, Obama…