Checking in on the Security State

The Guardian newspaper last week published a timeline of events related to Edward Snowden, his release of National Security Agency files and his quest for political asylum.  The timeline is useful as it contains links to all major pieces published by the Guardian since Snowden leaked NSA documents to Guardian journalists.

After deciding to leak NSA documents revealing the reach of NSA surveillance, Snowden fled to Hong Kong then Russia seeking political refuge from United States government capture and prosecution.   This week, Snowden's attorney in Russia announced that the Russian government granted him temporary asylum.

Also this week, U.S. army soldier Bradley Manning was convicted in a U.S. military court of multiple violations of the U.S Espionage Act (see below) stemming from his 2010 leaking of Iraq and Afghan war logs and other classified disclosures to Wikileaks. He faces a maximum of 136 years in military prison, although he was cleared of the most serious charge against him, aiding the enemy.

An archive of Bradley Manning articles from the Guardian is available here.

Finally, for a brief but interesting overview of the U.S. Espionage Act, see this piece by Caitlin Dewey, the Washington Post's social media reporter, titled "Manning was charged under the Espionage Act. It doesn't have a proud history."