The Atlantic published an article in November, 2010 titled “Truth Lies Here” detailing the extent to which American politics have been warped by a web that allows every ideology to invent its own facts and disseminate these without consequence.

Unfortunately, in the blizzard of misinformation and sensationalism peddled by Edward Snowden’s ally, Glenn Greenwald, some of us have lost sight of this message. To the majority of you, what is written here will come as no surprise: Snowden’s subsequent leak of highly-classified government materials has done more harm than good, a statement that a Washington Post poll found 60 percent in favor of.

To the other 40 percent, allow me to elaborate. Glenn “Greedwald” has begun his own publication, aptly named “The Intercept” since the NSA revelations came to light, along with announcing a new book in which he claims more will be uncovered; actions which point to a clear self-serving motive.

More and more, today’s youth is being bombarded with the same type of garbage continuously being published and republished in several well-known newspapers that I will not name. One former traitor and leaker, Daniel Ellsberg, has recently taken to popular content aggregation site Reddit to further mislead our generation.

In his Ask-Me-Anything, or AMA as it’s known, Ellsberg puts Snowden on a pedestal, claiming him to be a greater supporter of the constitution than anyone in Congress or within the executive branch, citing the Fourth and First Amendments specifically. But is this true?

Unsurprisingly, no it’s not. Neither my right nor your right to free speech has been in any way infringed upon, nor has the right to a lawful search and seizure. In fact, both operations that have been so callously portrayed by the media, PRISM and the Metadata Program, are outlined in clear legal documentation as sections 215 and 702 of the FISA Act.

Are we really to believe this Ellsberg fellow, who claims he is being actively monitored and harassed while simultaneously admitting there is no specific proof or incidents he can point to? I think not.

He too partakes in misconstruing the documents leaked by Snowden, attempting to “remind” readers that “we are ALL under surveillance!” Director of the National Security Agency Keith B. Alexander said the truth here is that fewer than 300 phone numbers in the U.S. were examined in 2012, according to an article from the American Forcers Press Service.

As to whether or not the websites you visit are being hawked at by the NSA, fret not: Internet service providers are strictly forbidden from sharing that kind of commercial activity with the government due to “restrictions put forth in the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and the Stored Communications Act,” as explained by the director.

Furthermore, the metadata program did not collect core content. It simply identifies which individual is calling which, allowing defense agencies to map terrorist or other illicit connections, such as drug smugglers or foreign intelligence agents.

NSA Deputy Director Richard Ledgett stated in an interview with TED moderator Chris Anderson, “If you’re not connected to one of those valid intelligence targets, you are not of interest to us.”

Former NSA Director Michael Hayden, in a CNN Op-Ed, points to the harm done by Snowden’s leaks with a simple explanation: it is not just what programs have been revealed, it is the revelation of how American intelligence collects information.

In multiple articles published on defense.gov, Keith Alexander spells out the wide ranging implications, from “lost critical intelligence collection sources” to concrete evidence that terrorist groups are already making changes in their communication methods to avoid surveillance.

As far as damage control is concerned, American officials only have jurisdiction within the U.S. It is clear now that Snowden is just one of Putin’s pawns, as he so obviously displayed in a TV interview with the Russian president and reported on by CNN, asking whether or not there were mass surveillance programs in the country.

Snowden’s actions have proven he is not concerned with American security, and it’s more than likely he has already passed State secrets to both China and Russia, his first two stops on his tour-de-traitor.

We must recognize that Edward Snowden has put American lives at risk around the globe and fallen into the hands of Russian intelligence. He intends not to help, only to hurt.

– Bryan Allen is a junior political science major from Puyallup. He can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of Student Publications.