memeorandum: Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations (Guardian)

10:15 PM ET, June 9, 2013

Top Items:

Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations — The 29-year-old source behind the biggest intelligence leak in the NSA's history explains his motives, his uncertain future and why he never intended on hiding in the shadows — • Q&A with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden …

Guardian:

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: ‘I do not expect to see home again’ — Source for the Guardian's NSA files on why he carried out the biggest intelligence leak in a generation - and what comes next — Edward Snowden was interviewed over several days in Hong Kong by Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, BuzzFeed, Yahoo! News, The Hill, The Hill, The Daily Banter, Weasel Zippers, Business Insider, Telegraph, Talking Points Memo, The Verge, Obsidian Wings, The Gateway Pundit, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Mediaite, The Daily Caller and TechCrunch

Washington Post:

Edward Snowden identified as source of NSA leaks — Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old system administrator and former undercover CIA employee, unmasked himself Sunday as the principal source of recent Washington Post and Guardian disclosures about top-secret NSA programs, denouncing what he described …

Discussion: Wonkblog, Patterico's Pontifications, Lawfare, Post Politics and The Reaction, more at Mediagazer »

Booz Allen Hamilton:

Booz Allen Statement on Reports of Leaked Information — Booz Allen can confirm that Edward Snowden, 29, has been an employee of our firm for less than 3 months, assigned to a team in Hawaii. News reports that this individual has claimed to have leaked classified information are shocking …

Discussion: Guardian, Firedoglake, Forbes, Business Insider, Hit & Run, Engadget and The Hinterland Gazette

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:

Paul weighs Supreme Court challenge to NSA surveillance programs — Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Sunday said he would examine ways to block the National Security Agency's surveillance programs before the Supreme Court. — “I'm going to be seeing if I can challenge this at the Supreme Court level,” vowed Paul on “Fox News Sunday.”

Discussion: Mediaite, Politico, National Review, Hot Air, CNN, Taylor Marsh and The PJ Tatler

Guardian:

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things' - video — The source behind the Guardian's NSA files talks to Glenn Greenwald about his motives for the biggest intelligence leak in a generation

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Washington Free Beacon and emptywheel

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
What's the Deal with Hong Kong?

Discussion: VentureBeat, Guardian and Business Insider

Reid J. Epstein / Politico:
NSA leaker reveals self, has no apologies

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and americanthinker.com

Charlie Spiering / Washington Examiner:
Edward Snowden: I mistakenly believed in Obama's promises

Discussion: blogs.telegraph.co.uk, The Gateway Pundit, Guardian and The Daily Caller

Kelly Ayotte:

Op-ed: Why I'm backing legislation to fix our broken immigration system — Everybody agrees that America's immigration system is broken, threatening our security and holding back our economy. The combination of porous borders and lax enforcement has made us a magnet for illegal immigration.

Discussion: Pirate's Cove, ThinkProgress, First Read and Outside the Beltway

Megan Wilson / The Hill:
Rand Paul says he's key to bridging Senate, House immigration gap

Discussion: Politico and CNN

Kevin Liptak / CNN:

Senators should have known about snooping, says McCain — (CNN) - Lawmakers who are now expressing outrage over the government's surveillance of phone records and Internet activity should have paid closer attention when they were voting to reauthorize provisions in the Patriot Act, Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said Sunday.

Discussion: Politico, Balloon Juice and National Review

Jim Sensenbrenner / Guardian:
This abuse of the Patriot Act must end | Jim Sensenbrenner

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Runnin' Scared and Hot Air

James Hohmann / Politico:
Voters give government leeway to snoop

Discussion: Hot Air, Outside the Beltway and The PJ Tatler

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Peeping Barry — WASHINGTON — THE acid that corroded George W. Bush's presidency was fear — spreading it and succumbing to it. — You could see the fear in his eyes, the fear that froze him in place, after Andy Card whispered to W. in that Florida classroom that a second plane had crashed into the twin towers.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

IRS Staff Undermine GOP Claims That White House Directed Targeting Of Conservative Groups, Top Democrat Says — Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) — the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee — pledged to release transcripts of interviews with Internal Revenue Service (IRS) …

Discussion: The Raw Story and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Cummings vows to release full IRS transcripts by week's end

Discussion: CNN

CNN:

Santa Monica shooting victim dies, bring toll to 5 — Shooting at Santa Monica College — Santa Monica, California (CNN) — [Breaking News Update] — Marcela Franco, 26, has died from wounds suffered when she was shot, along with her father, in an SUV near Santa Monica College on Friday …

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications, PJ Media and The Week

Senator Dianne Feinstein / ABCNEWS:

‘This Week’ Transcript: Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Mike Rogers — A rush transcript of “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” airing on Sunday morning, June 9, 2013 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. — STEPHANOPOULOS: Good morning and welcome to “This Week.”

Discussion: Crooks and Liars