memeorandum: The Big Shrug (Paul Krugman/New York Times)

10:30 AM ET, June 10, 2013

Top Items:

Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations — The 29-year-old source behind the biggest intelligence leak in the NSA's history explains his motives, his uncertain future and why he never intended on hiding in the shadows — • Q&A with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden …

Discussion: Firedoglake, ThinkProgress, Washington Post, Power Line, Politico, immi.is, BBC, China Real Time Report, The Atlantic Online, Yahoo! News, News Desk, Associated Press, Business Insider, The Plum Line, Hot Air, New Republic, Mediaite, msnbc.com, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, TechCrunch, The Agonist, The Raw Story, Wall Street Journal, Gawker, americanthinker.com, Reuters, The Sun, ViralRead, Doug Ross, KALW, Secrecy News, Talking Points Memo, Good Gear Guide, The Week, Prairie Weather, Daily Mail, Boing Boing, New York Times, The Huffington Post, RT, AMERICAblog, First Read, Telegraph, Informed Comment, FP Passport, The Gateway Pundit, UrbanGrounds, No More Mister Nice Blog, Balloon Juice, The Impolitic, Forbes, PoliticusUSA, NO QUARTER USA NET, The Dish, The BLT, Daily Kos, Little Green Footballs, The Moderate Voice, Taylor Marsh, Outside the Beltway, Lawfare, Fox News Insider, Hit & Run, USA Today, The Hinterland Gazette, Runnin' Scared, Instapundit, Wired, Vox Popoli, The Daily Caller, The PJ Tatler, American Power, CANNONFIRE, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Scared Monkeys, Whiskey Fire, Washington Free Beacon, Althouse, U.S. News, GigaOM, Liberal Values, AllThingsD, emptywheel, LewRockwell.com Blog, Mashable and Engadget, more at Mediagazer »

The Atlantic Online:

Edward Snowden in Hong Kong — I'm glad we have this information; I am sorry we are getting it from Hong Kong. — Three points: — 1) I believe what I wrote two days ago: that the United States and the world have gained much more, in democratic accountability, than they have lost …

Discussion: CANNONFIRE, Pressing Issues and Talking Points Memo

Barton Gellman / Washington Post:

Code name ‘Verax’: Snowden, in exchanges with Post reporter, made clear he knew risks — He called me BRASSBANNER, a code name in the double-barreled style of the National Security Agency, where he worked in the signals intelligence directorate. — Verax was the name he chose for himself, “truth teller” in Latin.

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Wired, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:

Booz Allen Grew Rich on Government Contracts — WASHINGTON — Edward J. Snowden's employer, Booz Allen Hamilton, has become one of the largest and most profitable corporations in the United States almost exclusively by serving a single client: the government of the United States.

Discussion: Politico, First Read, Business Insider and Telegraph

Daniel Ellsberg / Guardian:

Edward Snowden: saving us from the United Stasi of America | Daniel Ellsberg — Snowden's whistleblowing gives us a chance to roll back what is tantamount to an ‘executive coup’ against the US constitution — In my estimation, there has not been in American history a more important leak …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Verge, Althouse and Pressing Issues, more at Mediagazer »

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:

Greenwald Says 'There's A Lot More Coming,' Argues NSA Revelations Don't Harm Security — The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald on Monday defended the 29-year-old who served as the source of one of the biggest intelligence leaks in history, arguing that the revelations of the National Security …

Discussion: Hot Air

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

What's the Deal with Hong Kong? — Having given some initial reactions to the Snowden revelation below, let me say a bit more about Snowden's decision to go to Hong Kong. — Let's start by saying that the US has very long arms when it comes to seeking the extradition of people who've broken the laws at quite Snowden's scale.

Discussion: Guardian and Business Insider

Guardian:

Edward Snowden, NSA whistleblower: ‘I do not expect to see home again’ — Source for the Guardian's NSA files on why he carried out the biggest intelligence leak in a generation - and what comes next — Edward Snowden was interviewed over several days in Hong Kong by Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill.

Booz Allen Hamilton:
Booz Allen Statement on Reports of Leaked Information

Discussion: Guardian, Business Insider, U.S. News, The Hinterland Gazette, New York Times, Forbes, Firedoglake, Engadget, Gawker and Hit & Run, more at Mediagazer »

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:
DOJ launches criminal probe of NSA leaker

Discussion: Politico

Julian Borger / Guardian:
Edward Snowden's choice of Hong Kong as haven is a high-stakes gamble

Discussion: U.S. News, Outside the Beltway, American Power, Business Insider, Telegraph, BBC and The Gateway Pundit

Brian Knowlton / The Caucus:
Feinstein ‘Open’ to Hearings on Surveillance Programs

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Lawyers, Guns & Money and AllThingsD

Washington Post:
Edward Snowden identified as source of NSA leaks

Discussion: Yahoo! News, The Fix, Wonkblog, The Heritage Foundation, Little Green Footballs, Politico, News Desk, Post Politics, Lawfare, Patterico's Pontifications, msnbc.com and The Reaction

Reid J. Epstein / Politico:
NSA leaker reveals self, has no apologies

Discussion: CNN, Weasel Zippers, Associated Press and americanthinker.com

Charlie Spiering / Washington Examiner:
Edward Snowden: I mistakenly believed in Obama's promises

Discussion: USA Today, Guardian, JustOneMinute, AMERICAN DIGEST, The Daily Caller, Business Insider, Yahoo! News and The Gateway Pundit

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
NSA whistleblower reveals his identity

Discussion: Politico

Bill Gertz / Washington Free Beacon:
NSA Leaker Surfaces in Hong Kong

Discussion: Guardian and Weekly Standard

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The Big Shrug — I've been in this economics business for a while. In fact, I've been in it so long I still remember what people considered normal in those long-ago days before the financial crisis. Normal, back then, meant an economy adding a million or more jobs each year …

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Michael B. Mukasey / Wall Street Journal:

Leaking Secrets Empowers Terrorists — The NSA's surveillance program doesn't do damage. Revealing it does. — Once again, the tanks-have-rolled left and the black-helicopters right have joined together in howls of protest. They were set off by last week's revelations that the U.S. government …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Taylor Marsh and Pirate's Cove

Quinnipiac News + Events:

Release Detail — June 10, 2013 - Booker Leads In First Look At New Jersey Senate Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Christie Buries Buono 2-1 — Newark Mayor Cory Booker has substantial leads over relatively unknown Democratic primary and general election opponents in a first look …

Discussion: msnbc.com and Outside the Beltway

Raymond Hernandez / New York Times:
Pallone to Enter Senate Race in New Jersey

Discussion: The Fix and Taegan Goddard's …

Patrick Goodenough / CNSNews:

Karzai: US Must ‘Explain’ to Muslims Why Radicalism Is Growing Amid War on Terror — (CNSNews.com) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai is asking whether an increase in radicalism across an Islamic world “in turmoil” is the result of the U.S.-led campaign against terror.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and The Gateway Pundit

IEA:

IEA report shows how to stop growth in energy-related emissions by 2020 at no net economic cost — Warning that the world is not on track to limit the global temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius, the International Energy Agency (IEA) today urged governments to swiftly enact four energy policies …

Discussion: Washington Post and Guardian

Washington Post:

Hundreds in government had advance word of Medicare action at heart of trading-spike probe — Hundreds of federal employees were given advance word of a Medicare decision worth billions of dollars to private insurers in the weeks before the official announcement, a period when trading in the shares of those firms spiked.

Discussion: Power Line