Both of these entities are leaking American (and other countries’) security secrets to the world. Given that, how should America, the main and most powerful target, deal with them?
I think the CIA and FBI ought to take Assange and Snowden out.
If it’s o.k. for the FBI and the CIA to do something illegal(your proposed assassination), why isn’t it o.k. for Snowden and Wikileaks to do something illegal(release classified info)?
Killing them would further their cause and make them into martyrs, so I think that would be a very bad idea.
Use these events as lessons, and improve security. Also, improve transparency and decision making – when there are fewer morally-questionable decisions made, then there will be fewer such documents to leak.
Snowden and Wikileaks threaten American security. We can’t always try to play nice and understanding with everyone. We gotta protect ourselves. And the FBI/CIA act in the name of that; Snowden and Assange go against that. How often are we supposed to let other people do bad things to us as penance for something we did which others might argue was bad, but could also be argued were necessary measures?
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Killing them would further their cause and make them into martyrs,
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Martyrs, yes, but for who??
You’re cool with invading another country’s embassy?
For other hackers and open-info zealots, as well as turning on-the-fence feelings (people who don’t like what they did, but don’t think they deserve to die for it) into sympathy and anger at the US government.
Plus, killing them just won’t do anything. It won’t stop any leaks, or stop them from releasing the info they already have, etc. It would be a very obvious retaliation killing, which would look bad, be illegal, be morally wrong, and provide sympathy for their cause.
I’m generally opposed to the idea of extra-legal punishments. The American government should continue its current course of seeking to extradite Assange and Snowden back to the United States so they can be legally tried and (if convicted) imprisoned.
You have a twisted view of the world. We aren’t doing penance. We don’t owe anything and we aren’t owed anything.
We’re obeying the law because the rule of law is a good thing. It’s not a debt.
Why do we need to do anything about either? I’d say that if it’s tighter cyber security we are after, so we don’t leak important and classified information to anyone, then we should focus on that. I’m not seeing why we’d shoot the horse after the barn door let the cow out.
Actually, WE are leaking that information out…and, frankly, Wikileaks and Snowden are small beans compared to the cyber security compromises we’ve had from, say, China…which costs the US hundreds of billions or even trillions in lost IP and cost business. THAT is a major issue. Again, I don’t see any reason to go after Wikileaks or Snowden when they are just a symptom.
Take them out to the ball park? Get them a hot dog? 
Are you certain that you’d like to grant the CIA and FBI the powers to do so “legally”? What if tomorrow they decide that someone you approve of should die, arrange matters thusly, and then cannot be held accountable?
I’d rather them do it covertly and impossible to prove it was them. The same way the Mossad for years has been going after terrorists abroad but never confirming/denying certain events.
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For other hackers and open-info zealots, as well as turning on-the-fence feelings (people who don’t like what they did, but don’t think they deserve to die for it) into sympathy and anger at the US government.
Plus, killing them just won’t do anything. It won’t stop any leaks, or stop them from releasing the info they already have, etc. It would be a very obvious retaliation killing, which would look bad, be illegal, be morally wrong, and provide sympathy for their cause.
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Those people are going to want to cyberattack the US government in the same way whether Snowden and Assange are roaming free or not. And this “we don’t wanna cheese off anyone on the fence” bit sounds awfully familiar like why the left doesn’t wanna use the term “Islamic terrorism.” There comes a certain point where we’re damned if we do, damned if we don’t. So better shut these clowns up for good.
We need to get tough, not all mushy with people like these.
How would this make anything better? Dead Snowden and Assange doesn’t help anyone, and unlike, say, terrorists, they’re not killing people, so there’s no equivalent moral case.
Killing them would make America look weak – weak leaders and governments kill dissenters, not strong ones.
Are you certain you’d like to give the CIA and FBI the power to covertly conduct assassinations with immunity from blowback?
You have a far greater level of trust in your government than I do mine, I have to say.
The first step towards getting tough is to stop worrying over what other people think about you.
First Amendment, anyone ?
Does the First Amendment cover stolen material? If I break into your house and steal the manuscript of a novel you’re working on, and publish it… First Amendment?
Assassination is out. That’s dangerous and stupid and excessive.
If Snowden and Assange have committed crimes, there’s a regular method to deal with that.
I do think Russia should be sanctioned until they turn Snowden over, ditto Ecuador, and other countries need to join us. Perhaps countries that harbor these people also should be tossed or suspended from the UN, as the USSR was from the League of Nations after the Winter War, and South Africa during apartheid.
Why’d this come up today? Were you a big Debbie Wasserman Schulz fan or something? Seriously, Snowden’s been out of the headlines for a while now. Let sleeping dogs lie. And if you’re going to assassinate Assange for publishing classified materials, are you also prepared to assassinate the NYT staff that published classified materials?
when its done to help a hostile foreign power, its another league than the legit media. At least for patriots.
What are you talking about here: Snowden’s leaks about the NSA surveillance programs months / years ago or the DNC email leaks from earlier this week?