The person who leaked top secret intelligence from the USA’s National Security Agency (NSA) to the UK’s Guardian newspaper, former NSA analyst Mr Edward Snowden, has described himself in global media as a ‘whistleblower’.

 

“But according to Australian federal legislation, he is not,” says Charles Sturt University’s Dr Patrick Walsh, an expert in intelligence and security studies.

 

“In Australia, a whistleblower is a person who first reports a serious wrong-doing such as corruption and maladministration to a supervisor to address. The legislation currently going through Federal parliament then allows the whistleblower to report details to the media,” Dr Walsh said.

 

“However Mr Snowden didn't report his issue to his supervisors and went straight to the media, so he is not a whistleblower.

 

“Secondly, our national security agencies are exempt from Australian whistleblower legislation given the possible negative impacts for the release of such information on national security.”

 

But Dr Walsh is undecided if this means Mr Snowden is a traitor.

 

“Chair of the US Senate Committee on Intelligence, Senator Dianne Feinstein thinks he is a traitor and others are lining up to say the same,” Dr Walsh said.

 

“I think whether he is a traitor or not will be decided by the sentencing judge in a Federal Court once he is returned from Hong Kong. But what is clear is that he has breached multiple secrecy acts that he signed when he was given his security clearances.”

 

Dr Walsh said he disagreed with some commentators are calling Mr Snowden a hero.

 

“It depends what you think about the latest leak of classified information plus the information he provided on how NSA intercepts communication of US and non US citizens. Was it in the public interest or not?” Dr Walsh said.

 

“I don't think he is a hero. In his rush to fight what he sees as the gross invasion of people's civil liberties and privacy, he released vital information about how USA and its allies detect the activities of to terrorists and others to avoid their attacks. Terrorists don’t deserve privacy, democracy or any other values we hold dear in our society.”

 

Dr Walsh said the laws the USA is using for online interception are legal. “Understandably, the metadata gathered from phone and email accounts – who speaks to who, where and for how long - raises privacy issues. But actual call content can only be examined after a warrant is issued from the US Foreign Surveillance Court,” he said. 

 

“US Congress and the US public already knew about these programs. But this leak suggests that US Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper needs to educate the public about the programs and the oversight mechanisms that already exist.

 

“Perhaps better oversight of interceptions is now warranted, such as a panel of independent officers who review all interceptions that involve US citizens each month to ensure lawful process was followed and to review any cases where there could be gross breaches of privacy.