John Kerry US Secretary of State made the startling admission late last week that some of the country's surveillance activities had gone too far. With the world demanding answers the Obama administration finds its self caught defending a program it claims its lost control of.
Admitting that certain practices had occurred "on autopilot" without the knowledge of senior officials in the Obama administration, it appears the administration is looking for that delicately balance between believability and plausibility.
After being accused of spying on Pope Francis, even before he was Pope Francis , the Obama administration had few options left but to start acknowledging the possibility that elements of the National Security Agency may be living life of its own. If the Obama administration is to be believed, one has to ask if any administration has ever been fully in control of the nation's intelligence apparatus.
Whether anyone will accept this "Presidential Plea of Ignorance", largely depends on who the administration is willing to publicly jettison in order to save the mother ship of America's spy network. Since the United States has grown accustomed to looking the other way, downplaying or simply ignoring wrongdoing committed by the powerful, the international community will keep a wary eye on very move the Obama administration make going forward.
If the strategy is to white wash the issues until the public forgets or moves on to the next crisis, the administration will be in for a rude surprise. Many are watching with great interest, the outcome of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. With President Obama on the record for being in favor of a rigorous national debate over surveillance policies and his Secretary of State now acknowledging the real possibility of serious overreach and oversight issues, one wonders why U.S. officials remain committed to capturing, convicting and closing the final chapter on the one person providing the opportunity to fix the problems.
The one individual on the entire planet who had the balls and selflessness to stand up and report the outrageous and unseemly behaviors on the part of the United States government is being asked daily to surrender himself like a sacrificial lamb. The one person responsible for making this long overdue national debate possible is being told in no uncertain terms he's considered a traitor and will be punished severely as soon as his government can get its hands on him.
While the world takes a breath to digest these latest revelations and brace itself for the inevitability of next ones to follow, it will be interesting if the administration will eventually accept Edward Snowden offer to return to the States with the promise of clemency. Seeing Edward Snowden testifying in front of Congress without the threat of facing the rest of his natural life behind bars would go a long way in showing the world the United States can change its evil ways.
Bottom line: If you believe Edward Snowden is right, then the United States government has to be wrong. There is no in between.
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