The story of the American phone-tapping scandal bears repeating today because of yesterday's twin revelations that the leaker involved is Edward Snowden, and that he worked for another barely-accountable government contractor named Booz Allen Hamilton. That leak should and would happen has been anticipated by many of us Americans, but the fact that it comes from a contractor should be extra cause for alarm.
It's bad enough to have the government snooping around everybody's private business. It's even worse knowing that the government is allowing people outside the government and outside law enforcement agencies to look at that information. Why? Because we have rules regarding the operations of our government officials. We expect all intelligence and security matters to be handled by the government because the private sector is mercilessly incompetent: incompetent at screening during the hiring process, incompetent at job performance, and horrendously incompetent at security, internal or otherwise. It's the same reason it should be illegal for private corporations to run prisons or run criminal gangs (aka "mercenary outfits") in war zones like Iraq. Remember the puppy thrown off the back of the truck? Remember the four Haliburton employees that got lynched in Fallujah? Remember the contractors taunting the Iraqi children with water bottles?
These sorts of behaviours occur because contractors are not held to the same standards of behaviour as actual federal employees and officials. Therefore, it is a major security threat to the United States to allow contractors to do security work instead of actual government employees, no matter the illusion of cost savings. Whether you are in favour of the Obama Administration reading all your mails and knowing which pair of underwear you are wearing, or if you are sane and oppose such over-reaching, we can all agree that using private contractors to conduct intelligence operations is as productive as using Swiss cheese to collect radioactive rainwater.
Let's say that Edward Snowden was an actual threat, a creep, a bad guy with a vendetta, a spy for China. Let's say that he just went underground and didn't bother to report this information to newspapers in America that are trying to save our country in their dying breath. That would mean that China would have the power to look at all the private communications and financial transactions of every single US citizen.
Let's now say that one of Snowden's fellow employees at Booz Allen Hamilton is an actual Chinese spy passing on intel to the Chinese government. It would mean that Presidents George W. Bush and Barak H. Obama are both responsible for rounding up the private details of all 300M+ American citizens and offering them on a golden platter to the Chinese, or the Russians, or any intelligent and well-funded enemy of the United States.
Any other country in the world could use our private communications to infiltrate our society without the American intelligence system even knowing. They could manipulate our political process, manipulate our economy, or throw some companies under the bus while making others profit wildly.
This is not just a flaw with using private contractors. This is the primary foible of pursuing security before freedom. By allegedly pursuing terrorists using methods that directly contradict our Constitution and the intentions of our Founders to create a truly free society, we have (perhaps) unwittingly planted socially-explosive devices in the private life of every American. This is a clear and present danger that cannot stand.
In other government snooping news, Senator Rand Paul, looking for some libertarian bonafides to bolster a potential 2016 presidential run, said on FOX News that he would try to spearhead a class action lawsuit against the federal government:
"I'm going to be asking all the Internet providers and all of the phone companies, ask your customers to join me in a class action lawsuit. If we get 10 million Americans saying we don't want our phone records looked at then somebody will wake up and say things will change in Washington."
While I question Paul's motives (as I do for any politician, especially those living in their fathers' shadows), I certainly agree with his main thrust that there should be a class action lawsuit. In particular I'm thinking of the kind of lawsuit called an "impeachment". It's time to file some articles of impeachment in exchange for getting some business done to help the Democratic Party agenda. Even if Obama is not removed from office, an impeachment would send the clear signal from We the People that messing around with our Fourth Amendment rights is not okay with us. Furthermore, the impeacment proceedings should also call in George W. Bush, as well as all those who worked in either administration to undermine our American way of life.
Senator Paul, I know I'm not the only one who voted for Obama that wants Washington cleaned up. If only you'd jump on board and acknowledge just how seriously the private sector has failed us here, I'd support you 100% on your impeachment/class action suit and even vote for you in 2016. A lawsuit will only be meaningful if we can ensure that only those who are actual government employees can screw us. At least it assures me that any transgressions will be held accountable to the People.
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