Tuesday, April 1, 2014

On Manning and Snowden--The Middle Path

Respectfully, the polarized view on either side of the pro or con Manning and Snowden incidents fail to:

1) acknowledge that we need a more clear mechanism where this type of whistle-blowing has a safe harbor because, to a limited degree, they both had some valid, legitimate motives and justifications for there actions.

2) the willy-nilly disclosure of documents that occurred cannot be tolerated and requires prosecution. Any temperance can be granted in the penalty or sentence of such behavior.

If any of you owned a business with numerous offices and agents thereof and some manager/supervisor was violating the law and to blow the whistle, one of your employees--not through a lawsuit, not through proper authorities--simply provided to your competitor--not only the information on the bad behavior but all of your trade secrets (R and D, Pending Patent Apps, Internal Soft Ware, customer lists, business plans, recipes, policies, procedures, protocols, etc.) you would be livid and insist on legal action.

There are no rational lawmakers and executive leaders that espouse or argue that government business--especially law enforcement, security and foreign affairs--has no need of secrecy or privilege. A dangerous and lawless world require it.

Loren M. Lambert © August 12, 2013

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