Shortly after Ed Snowden publicly revealed himself as the source of leaked secret NSA documents nine days ago, he did a surreptitious on-camera interview with The Guardian, which was seen around the world. As he remains in hiding in Hong Kong, US media figures have been anxious to get another interview with him. Instead, he decided to hold a live 90-minute online chat session yesterday on The Guardian website where he responded to questions from readers. During the chat, he had this to say about whether the government’s persecution of whistleblowers will succeed in intimidating other insiders from revealing what they know:

“. . . overly harsh responses to public interest whistleblowing only escalate the scale, scope, and skill involved in future disclosures. Citizens with a conscience are not going to ignore wrongdoing simply because they’ll be destroyed for it: the conscience forbids it. Instead, these draconian responses simply build better whistleblowers. If the Obama administration responds with an even harsher hand against me, they can be assured that they’ll soon find themselves facing an equally harsh public response.”

As the surveillance state continues to conceal what it does with an ever-expanding blanket of secrecy, enforced by threats of imprisonment for violators, and complicity from the major media, whistleblowers are becoming the only avenue left to expose government and corporate wrongdoing. Seizing Power provides a platform for them, and we believe that Snowden is correct that they will only become more numerous and effective as the government tries to increase its intimidation.

-David Kasper