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Why would the US want to kill Snowden? I think this dead man's switch is deterrent against being taken into custody. If the US tries to incarcerate him, then

Why would the US want to kill Snowden? I think this dead man's switch is deterrent against being taken into custody. If the US tries to incarcerate him, then the switch will trip and more secret documents will be leaked. Though maybe the US doesn't care. I wonder how badly the US wants him at this point?

legutierr 13y ago
The US government is not monolithic. It's not difficult to imagine that factions or individuals within the intelligence community could act in certain circumstances without official sanction.
mtgx 13y ago
One reason could be to scare future whistleblowers "Leak government information - you're dead to us. Literally." Of course doing it now would be incredibly stupid of the US government, as everyone will point to them, but then again they've already done some incredibly stupid things, so who knows.
- res0nat0r 13y ago
  If the USA really wanted to go down this scary path, then wouldn't Bradley Manning have been executed by now? His leak most likely was much more damaging to the US than Snowden, and he is on trial via a military tribunal which has a much greater conviction rate than a civilian court. Manning isn't even on trial for any charges that carry the death penalty.
  - jlgreco 13y ago
    I would rather die than rot in solitary under suicide watch.
  - danudey 13y ago
    Bradley Manning's treatment to date is essentially torture. The message that the US is trying to send is 'If you cross us, we'll torture you until the end of your days.' Death is an easy out. Become a martyr? Not so bad. Live for the rest of your life, naked, in solitary confinement? I'd rather be dead than lose my grip on sanity in those kinds of conditions.
  - 127 13y ago
    Read 1984. I think the ending is very relevant to this question.
Osiris 13y ago
It seems to have worked well so far. There haven't been any actions taken against him that might cause additional damage to the U.S. either through released documents or bad PR.
ihsw 13y ago
> I think this dead man's switch is deterrent against being taken into custody. Quite the contrary, taking him into custody is always in the best interest of the US. Snowden could be targeted with the intention of purposefully triggering the release of the documents, so the US would need to protect him. However if he remains alive then the threat continues as well, at least until he expresses desire to not release the documents. So since he's alive then the US will want to keep control of him until the threat is neutralized. Either way the US needs to take control of the situation, unless they can ensure the "dead man's switch" doesn't get triggered after Snowden dies.
- vidarh 13y ago
  You are assuming a dead mans switch that is not set up (whether technical or depending on people) to get triggered if he is taken into US custody. Given his previous statement that he "can't be" tortured to give up the information he has, I am assuming he does not himself have direct control of the dead mans switch, but have left information to other parties on when to release, so it might be entirely out of both his hands and the US governments hands whether or not their actions will trigger "the switch".

legutierr 13y ago

The US government is not monolithic. It's not difficult to imagine that factions or individuals within the intelligence community could act in certain circumstances without official sanction.

mtgx 13y ago

One reason could be to scare future whistleblowers "Leak government information - you're dead to us. Literally." Of course doing it now would be incredibly stupid of the US government, as everyone will point to them, but then again they've already done some incredibly stupid things, so who knows.

res0nat0r 13y ago
If the USA really wanted to go down this scary path, then wouldn't Bradley Manning have been executed by now? His leak most likely was much more damaging to the US than Snowden, and he is on trial via a military tribunal which has a much greater conviction rate than a civilian court. Manning isn't even on trial for any charges that carry the death penalty.
- jlgreco 13y ago
  I would rather die than rot in solitary under suicide watch.
- danudey 13y ago
  Bradley Manning's treatment to date is essentially torture. The message that the US is trying to send is 'If you cross us, we'll torture you until the end of your days.' Death is an easy out. Become a martyr? Not so bad. Live for the rest of your life, naked, in solitary confinement? I'd rather be dead than lose my grip on sanity in those kinds of conditions.
- 127 13y ago
  Read 1984. I think the ending is very relevant to this question.

Osiris 13y ago

It seems to have worked well so far. There haven't been any actions taken against him that might cause additional damage to the U.S. either through released documents or bad PR.

ihsw 13y ago

> I think this dead man's switch is deterrent against being taken into custody. Quite the contrary, taking him into custody is always in the best interest of the US. Snowden could be targeted with the intention of purposefully triggering the release of the documents, so the US would need to protect him. However if he remains alive then the threat continues as well, at least until he expresses desire to not release the documents. So since he's alive then the US will want to keep control of him until the threat is neutralized. Either way the US needs to take control of the situation, unless they can ensure the "dead man's switch" doesn't get triggered after Snowden dies.

vidarh 13y ago
You are assuming a dead mans switch that is not set up (whether technical or depending on people) to get triggered if he is taken into US custody. Given his previous statement that he "can't be" tortured to give up the information he has, I am assuming he does not himself have direct control of the dead mans switch, but have left information to other parties on when to release, so it might be entirely out of both his hands and the US governments hands whether or not their actions will trigger "the switch".