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Edward Snowden; whistle blower or thief – patriot or traitor
TzeitelIsela Marin
PAFF 6310-01 Ethics in Public Service
Professor: R. Nank, PhD
Edward Snowden; whistle blower or thief – patriot or traitor
Table of Contents
TOC o “1-3” h z u Introduction3Edward Snowden as a Moral Agent4II.I Whistle Blower and Patriot4Thief and Traitor5Conclusion6Work Cited7

Edward Snowden; whistle blower or thief – patriot or traitor
IntroductionThe United States of America has an internal security organization called the National Security Agency (NSA). The body is held accountable for security issues within the country more so in the investigation and identifying of the threats. The NSA internal security employees are at loggerhead with the congressional intelligence and judiciary committees. The process of determining the officials and the contractors who are accountable and for the security breaches are ongoing.
Edward Snowden is the person whose name features and is accused of accessing the computer system of NSA and leaking critical information that the enemies should not get to know. Snowden used the security details of a junior internal officer to access the system from where he gets the information that is in the public domain. However, Snowden is denying the charges and states that those are false allegations. He adds that he has goodwill for the country and should not be associated with such negative characteristics. Therefore, the case of Edward has raised several issues of ethical concern.

There are several moral concern related to Snowden’s decision to disclose the NSA secrets to the public domain. The article examines the actions of Edward as a whistleblower and patriotic or as and the impacts of his efforts on the NSA security concerns.
II. Edward Snowden as a Moral Agent
II.I Whistle Blower and Patriot
Edward Snowden is accused of illegally assessing and then leaking secret NSA information to the public. The section describes Snowden actions as a whistleblower and a patriot. The whistleblower is one who informs that public on certain private information that is secured for security purposes. The American constitution legitimizes seizure and expectancy on privacy once the government obtains a warrant (Greenwald, 2016, pg. 89). The statement issued by the courts indicated that the Americans movement, communication, and decision should not be recorded by the government. Therefore, the process through which Edward leaked NSA data privacy is a process of informing the public. The information was sent to the public and went rolling in the media stating some of the extreme methods the NSA deploys on security pursuits. Edward had only honest intention informing the public about the current security concerns which might interfere with public operations. Therefore, Edward is a whistleblower in this case because he is passing vital security information to the people information of creating awareness to the people.
On the other hand, one would see Edward as a patriot. He has the right intention of informing the public on what is taking place. A patriot is a lover of the nation and protects the nation and informs them on the current affairs concerning the security. Edward does that by seeking information and sends it the American citizens(Greenwald, 2016). From the mentioned analysis, one would conclude that Snowden is a whistleblower and patriot. Snowden is a moral agent because the information that is accessing is for the good of the nation. On the contrary, he also disobeys the moral order because the process that he uses to get the information is fraudulent. He uses another person’s password which should be privet security hence practices and immoral behavior.
III. Thief and Traitor
Snowden’s action classifies him as a thief and a traitor. A thief is one who acquires properties illegally by taking them from another person with no consent. The process through which Edward obtains information is fraudulent. He used another person’s password to access the information he stole from the NSA system.
The person whose name is not disclosed was also no aware that his information would be used access the system. Therefore, it is like Snowden illegally accessed the information because at that time the same employee was not aware that the password was used to obtain the private information(Greenwald, 2016). Therefore, one would say that Snowden had stolen the info from the site. The action of Snowden would be classified as unethical behavior. He would be regarded as a corrupt person and one who lacks integrity because of unlawfully accessing the website with no permission to access private information and take them public.
Additionally, Snowden is regarded as a traitor. A traitor is one who betrays his or her country by leaking vital information that can be used by terrorists or any other criminal group to attack the nation. He leaked private and confidential information that the United States security was collecting in the interest of national security (Greenwald, 2016). The enemies are learning the tactics and plan that the USA has against them. He had no right to get the information. He used corrupt means to access the data and then send these materials to the media. He is charged with espionage which is the act of infiltrating into a state’s system and getting access to essential information. Most of the people do it, but it is illegal. The material that particular states would like to remain confidential should not go viral as boiling news. Therefore, Edward betrayed the country.
IV. Conclusion
In a nutshell, Edwards act is critical to the United States of America government. Before he is charged, at one point one can see the action as Altruism because Edward had no conflict with anyone but concerned with the happiness and welfare of the USA citizens. However, the process of acquiring the information was illegal. Additionally, he made the news go viral to the public hence making the enemy aware of the plans thus he is a traitor.
References
Greenwald, Glenn (2016). How Would a Patriot Act? Defending American Values from a President Run Amok. Working Assets.