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Comment by Overtonwindow | Hacker News Reader

Yes, but would likely create a tremendously yuge backlash from the intelligence community, and turn them against the Democratic party for a very long time. You think Wikileaks and Hillary's emails were bad? Piss off the intel community and have them turning their mighty tools of deception and surveillance on the entire DNC...

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There are lots of people in the intelligence community that are appalled by domestic surveillance efforts as well.

Besides, if your accusation is correct (that they are so mindless and stupid as a group that their reaction to a controversial presidential pardon would be to go after the political party associated with that president), then the US should just fire every single last one of them and start from scratch. Seriously. If that's where things are at, then they're all negative contributors anyway. But I don't think it's that bad, I've got more faith in humanity than you do apparently (for the time being at least :( ).

> There are lots of people in the intelligence community that are appalled by domestic surveillance efforts as well.

[citation needed]. I've never heard anyone from the intel community say anything other than that they need more domestic surveillance powers and that we should shut up and stop complaining about the ones in place already.

Seriously. The intelligence community answers to the executive. If they don't like the pardon they can go fuck themselves for that reason alone.

We'll then these traitors that are within the US intelligence community who illegally target Americans citizens will reveal themselves and be sent to jail for treason.

The intelligence community that created these illegal programs will be held responsible for their crimes against America.

In your plan, how far do the prosecutions go? Is every last coder to be prosecuted for their crimes? In 60 years will we still be putting former NSA analysts on trial for treason like the Nazis (since treason, like murder, has no statute of limitations)? I'm legitimately asking.

Do you have any reason to actually believe this, or is just something that sounds good to your gut?

The lightness with which you can say that a branch of the State could just "turn on internal enemies" is something straight out of Soviet Russia and other unsavoury regimes. Is this what the almighty US are now, a bunch of mafia organizations fighting for power with all the dirty tricks they can muster?

Obama should do The Right Thing and screw the intelligence community - what have they done for him in 8 years anyway? Started bad wars and lied under oath.

I think the intelligence community is a bit more rational than that, meaning if it's in their interests to turn their tools of deception and surveillance onto anyone, then they don't need an excuse of anger to do so. Interests are interests.

Hmm, I hadn't thought of that. While I think your latter point is a bit ridiculous (but not implausible), I agree that there would be a lot to lose from a pardon and very little to gain.

After all, Snowden gave up his right to autonomy in 2013. His life now is entirely within the hands of history.

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