We have treated a whistle-blower like a traitor — and thus made him a traitor. Great job. Did anyone in the White House or the N.S.A or the C.I.A. consider flying to Hong Kong and treating Mr. Snowden like a human being, offering him a chance to testify before Congress and a fair trial? Maybe he would have gone with President Vladimir V. Putin anyway, but at least he would have had another option. The secret keepers would have won too: a Congressional hearing would have been a small price to bring Mr. Snowden and those precious hard drives back to American soil.
Snowden, Through the Eyes of a Spy Novelist – NYTimes.com
Alex Berenson has written spy novels, and here he reflects on Mr. Snowden and how turning a whistleblower into a traitor doesn’t serve anyone well.