ACLU attorney Ben Wizner says the history books will be kind to Edward Snowden; he will be remembered well.
"I think Edward Snowden is going to look a lot better in those history textbooks than the NSA will."
Wiznerbecame Snowden's lawyer after correspondence with two journalists who received classified information from Snowden. Snowden is now in Russia, assessing his options for coming back to the United States. Wizner is in fairly regular contact with Snowden, and is helping him facilitate global surveillance reform.
"To be a patriot is to question the government all the time," he says. "I don't think the national security state will ever gain back the full credibility that it had after 9/11."
Wizner will be in Iowa Wednesday September 17, speaking at Simpson College at 7 p.m. His talk is titled "Collect it All: Mass Surveillance and the Future of Democracy."
