On July 1, 2007, I posted the following report on a then-new NSA whistleblower, a story later repeatedly “broken” by ABC News, Democracy Now!, James Bamford, and others.  Thomas Drake, Edward Snowden, and NSA whistleblowers whose names we’ve learned are part of a rich and, I hope, growing tradition:

New NSA Whistleblower Speaks

By davidswanson – Posted on 01 July 2007

By David Swanson
http://warisacrime.org/node/24183

A former member of U.S. military intelligence has decided to reveal what she knows read more

Already over 30,000 people have signed a thank-you note to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden at SupportEdwardSnowden.org — a website set up by RootsAction.org.

The note reads: “We thank Edward Snowden for his principled and courageous actions as a whistleblower, informing the public about vast surveillance by the National Security Agency that undermines our civil liberties.”

A few of the thousands of comments added read as follows:

“Your courage and integrity give hope to a read more

Should the U.S. government be building a list of people whom a stranger has concluded based on as little as a moment’s interaction are “anti-government”?  Look at this photo of a U.S. Census laptop.  There’s a box to check if a respondent is reluctant to participate in the census.

The next screen wants the census interviewer to explain the potential interviewee’s reluctance:

Notice that there is a box for hostile or threatening.  That seems important.  read more