This interview Katie Couric did with Edward Snowden in Moscow on December 5, 2016, starts a bit slow but is very much worth watching.
Couric asks the hard questions nicely – and frankly, for me, Snowden comes across as an American hero who genuinely loves America and cherishes our nation's deepest values.
Between 44-45 minutes into the interview, Snowden makes (in very simple terms) the same point Robert Steele has made repeatedly: the most effective and actionable intelligence is gathered openly, on the ground, by the cop on the beat, and not by all those expensive, secret AND illegal means that then lead the perpetrators to engage in a whole array of lies, deflections, coverups and the messy, tangled web of deceit that generally follows.
To pull but one example of this sort of “tangled web,” compare Clapper's “mini interview” in the Congress with Snowden's:
James Clapper resigns as US director of national intelligence
Do watch the video embedded in this clip as Clapper digs himself a deep hole and then proceeds to hurl himself into it.
I agree with Robert Steele: “The truth at any cost reduces all other costs.”
The good news about telling the truth, and doing this the best we can with our limited knowledge in every moment, is that it makes living life a whole lot simpler. And, if we embrace TRUTH as “the bedrock” upon which to build our civilization, we will perforce gradually create a work of beauty. The more of us who consistently tell the truth, the more quickly we will create this work of beauty.
