No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State.

• Author: Munger, Michael
• Position: Book review

No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State

By Glenn Greenwald

New York: Metropolitan Books, 2014.

Pp. v, 260. $27 hardcover.

Edward Snowden might claim to be a patriot because he tried to restore integrity to U.S. intelligence. What he actually did was reveal how tar state-sponsored surveillance has metastasized beyond its sole legitimate mission: to protect U.S. citizens from external threats.

Of course, the problem with acts of terrorism is that prosecuting perpetrators after the fact concedes the initiative. Thinking that someone might commit a crime is not probable cause. Actual intent and specific steps leading toward acting on that intent are necessary for an arrest to be justified.

But how can surveillance officials know about intent and acts unless they are looking? Worse, if terrorists are willing to commit suicide in the act of killing American citizens, then the threat of ex post sanctions is no deterrent in the first place. The only way to fight terrorism is to prevent acts of murder and destruction before they happen.

That would require an elaborate system of gathering information and projection of likely threats. Government officials, like the police in the Tom Cruise movie Minority Report (Steven Spielberg, 2002), are put in the position of predicting crimes and then arresting the nonperpetrators before the fact. In one exchange, the police force's "predictor in chief" and the Tom Cruise character, Danny Witwer, debate the system:

JOHN ANDERTON: Why don't you cut the cute act, Danny boy, and tell me exactly what it is you're looking for?

DANNY WITWER: Flaws.

JOHN ANDERTON: There were no successful acts of terrorism on American soil for nearly twelve years after 9/11. There's nothing wrong with the system; it is perfect.

DANNY WITWER [simultaneously]: ... perfect. I agree. But if there's a flaw, it's human. It always is.

Now, yes, I edited that. I changed "murder in 6 years" to "successful acts of terrorism on American soil for nearly twelve years after 9/11." But the analogy is apt: aggressive ex ante surveillance and enforcement is being justified in the United States based precisely on the absence of crimes. It's like the old joke about elephants: "Elephants hide in trees." "No way! I've never seen one." "See how well they hide?"

When asked in an online forum about his justification for blowing the whistle, Snowden said, "There can be no faith in government if our highest offices are excused from scrutiny--they should be setting the example of transparency" ("Edward Snowden: NSA Whistleblower Answers Reader Questions," Guardian...