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

by Glenn Greenwald

extreme theory of executive power that had motivated me to begin writing: the notion that the threat of terrorism vested the president with virtually unlimited authority to do anything to “keep the nation safe,” including the authority to break the law. The ensuing debate entailed complex questions of constitutional law and statutory interpretation, which my legal background rendered me well suited to address. I spent the next two years covering every aspect of the NSA warrantless wiretapping scandal, on my blog and in a bestselling 2006 book. My position was straightforward: by ordering illegal eavesdropping, the president had committed crimes and should be held accountable for them. In America’s increasingly jingoistic and oppressive political climate, this proved to be an intensely controversial stance. It was this background that prompted Edward Snowden, several years later, to choose me

twentieth century, the US Bureau of Investigation—the precursor of today’s

A citizenry that is aware of always being watched quickly becomes a compliant and fearful one.

My Country, My Country,

have to watch this

Secrecy is the linchpin of abuse of power, we discovered, its enabling force. Transparency is the only real antidote.