The Obama administration sees any leak which it does not itself provides to hype its policies as aiding the enemy. Through its "Insider Threat Program" it pushes this view as an official policy throughout the government:
“Hammer this fact home . . . leaking is tantamount to aiding the enemies of the United States,” says a June 1, 2012, Defense Department strategy for the program that was obtained by McClatchy.
The administration ruthlessly prosecutes anyone who dares to leak even the tiniest issue.
That is why Edward Snowden had to flee the country after he decided to reveal the unlimited spying of the U.S. government against the whole world as well as its own citizen. The Obama administration wants to prosecute Snowden for "espionage" for revealing U.S. spying to the public. Is that irony intended?
Snowden fled to Hongkong where he revealed that the U.S. government not only targets its own citizens but also attacked China's Tsinghua University with extensive hacking, hacked Pacnet, the Asia Pacific fibre-optic network operator, spies on Chinese mobile phone companies and steals Chinese SMS data. The U.S. asked Hongkong to arrest Snowden and to send him back to the States. Meanwhile Snowden, with the help of Wikileaks lawyers, already planed to move elsewhere. The Hongkong government was not amused about the U.S. arrest and extradition request and did not fulfill it. When Snowden stepped on a plane this morning to fly to Moscow it released a statement that rejected the warrant and added:
Meanwhile, the HKSAR Government has formally written to the US Government requesting clarification on earlier reports about the hacking of computer systems in Hong Kong by US government agencies. The HKSAR Government will continue to follow up on the matter so as to protect the legal rights of the people of Hong Kong.
It is not yet known where Snowdens travel will end. The Wikileaks organization's press release states:
Mr Edward Snowden, the American whistleblower who exposed evidence of a global surveillance regime conducted by US and UK intelligence agencies, has left Hong Kong legally. He is bound for a democratic nation via a safe route for the purposes of asylum, and is being escorted by diplomats and legal advisors from WikiLeaks.
Mr Snowden requested that WikiLeaks use its legal expertise and experience to secure his safety. Once Mr Snowden arrives at his final destination his request will be formally processed.
Snowden may stay in Moscow and ask for asylum there. He may fly to Iceland, Venezuela or Equador. Wherever he goes, except for the United States, the people will be on his side.
Some U.S. government hacks are now trying to smear Snowden because he is traveling to "autocratic regimes". "That is outrages," said Obama. "Now get the Saudis on the line so we can to talk about Syria."
It is Kafkaesque that those who reveal spying are accused of espionage. It is also Kafkaesque that the U.S. government accuses other governments of "serious human rights abuses" for doing the same thing, on a much smaller scale, that the U.S. does to its own and world citizens. Obama should reread the Executive Order 13606 (pdf) (h/t DB) he himself issued:
I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, hereby determine that the commission of serious human rights abuses against the people […] by their governments, facilitated by computer and network disruption, monitoring, and tracking by those governments, and abetted by entities […] that are complicit in their governments’ malign use of technology for those purposes, threaten the national security and foreign policy of the United States.
There is some truth in that statement. Privacy is a human right. Spying is destroying it. The U.S. is the one state that wants to destroy privacy on a global base. That it wants to do so threatens the national security and foreign policy of the United States. When will Obama sanction it?