Shooting the Messenger

Edward Snowden's revelations about NSA spying on Americans has received a lot of press recently, and it's likely to continue as a story for some time.

There are many sub-themes. But one that hasn't yet received much attention involves the most appropriate standards for dealing with federal government whistle-blowers -- normally protected under federal law as providing a constructive function -- when, in order to be a whistle-blower it is necessary for them to reveal information that the government considers secret and classified.

Should they be treated as heroes, as Snowden's defenders contend, as terrorists and traitors engaged in treason and espionage, as the Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee contends, or as something somewhere in between those extremes?

That is the subject of "Shooting the Messenger; Should Government be Able to Keep its Abuses Secret," available here.