Snowden, Manning, and their supporters claim that they leaked for a higher cause, to alert the world to U.S. government abuses. Critics challenge these claims, pointing to the leakers failure to even try to work through legal whistleblower channels. The critics also point out that both Snowden and Manning released so many thousands of documents that they had no way of knowing how many foreign assets they had endangered or how publicizing IC sources and methods would hurt the ICs ability to collect against future national security threats.
What do you think? Is the whistleblower system adequate? Is there ever a situation when leaking information might be justified and, if so, what would it be? Note: Please write 2-3 paragraphs (250 words)
Attached are the notes for the lecture and Ch. 7 from the book is the assigned reading for this week
