Citizen responsibility

Will we ever get a young officer leaking information that may damage their personal careers, but help our democracy?

Edward Snowden was an officer in the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States. He left that job and then worked for one of the largest, most prestigious consulting firms in the world. This month, he leaked information about what is possibly the largest surveillance operation in the world, because as a citizen of a democracy, he felt that his government — one that he served in as a spy himself — should not be spying on its own people. He has yet to turn 30 years old.

In last month’s election, much was made about Pakistan’s young voters turning out to vote in large numbers. The belief of young Pakistani voters in our democracy is a welcome development, one that will only strengthen us in years to come. But what Snowden did is something that reflects more than just a sense of pride in his country’s democracy: it is a sense of responsibility to protect it against presidential overreach.

What makes Snowden’s actions more admirable was the fact that he was formerly a CIA officer, and until his leaking, was employed by Booz Allen Hamilton, a firm that pays its employees to serve as consultants largely to one client: the US government. Snowden went against not just the desires of his former employers, he went against his own personal economic interests.

It is this sense of obligation, of loyalty to a higher ideal,that Pakistan sorely needs. Will we ever get a young officer in our government leaking information that may be damaging to his or her personal careers, but helps fortify our democracy? We certainly hope so, because there are many government institutions in Pakistan that have a habit of overreaching their authority and not having their decisions questioned.

We are not in favour of leaking national secrets indiscriminately, but not everything the government wants to hide qualifies to be called a national secret. Sometimes, it is helpful to discuss matters of security policy openly. It shows a nation secure in its own sense of self and identity.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16^th, 2013.

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