Edward Snowden

One often finds that standing up and working in favor of the greater good usually results in negative consequences. Edward Snowden encountered this crossroad while working as a technical contractor for the NSA and the CIA. While working at the NSA's Oahu office, Snowden began noticing various government policies and techniques that the NSA was using in order to spy on American citizens. Through phone calls and internet use, information was gathered about various citizens without their consent. After only three months of working for the NSA, Snowden began copying and leaking the disturbing secret documents regarding the NSA’s surveillance practices. The documents contained information regarding the invasion of privacy of millions of Americans from the NSA's various domestic programs such as PRISM. Snowden then fled to Hong Kong in order to escape potential trouble with the law after newspapers began printing the leaked documents, many of which detailed the invasive spying practices against American citizens. This leads to the controversial matter of deciding whether or not Snowden is a whistleblower deserving recognition, or a traitor against his country. Those who support him, consider him a hero protecting the people while others view him as a traitor against America. A number of respectable people believed that Snowden should not be viewed as a patriot but rather as a traitor or defector. Those critical of his decisions also believe that his actions were unjust and “...strike at the heart of the collaboration between those nations in world affairs that stand at the forefront of protecting human freedom” (Murphy, 2014). It is an undeniable fact that Snowden broke the contract he signed upon working for the NSA when he decided to leak the confidential information to the public. There is a great concern amongst political officials that the information leaked could possibly be used by enemies of the United States. Since the leaked information revealed the