We Really Really Do Care! We Do!!

Back in 2014, the Post noted that “both the leakers and the news organizations that published the stories were accused by critics, including members of Congress, of enabling espionage and harming national security.” But they had it all wrong, said Executive Editor Marty Baron:

Disclosing the massive expansion of the NSA’s surveillance network absolutely was a public service… In constructing a surveillance system of breathtaking scope and intrusiveness, our government also sharply eroded individual privacy. All of this was done in secret, without public debate, and with clear weaknesses in oversight.

Baron added that without Snowden, “we never would have known how far this country had shifted away from the rights of the individual in favor of state power.” They also quoted reporter Barton Gellman, who said, incorrectly it would now seem, “The public gets to have a say on those things.” Finally, the Post in 2014 credited the work of several beat reporters who contributed, including Greg Miller, Carol Leonnig, Julie Tate, outside consultant Ashkan Soltani, and Ellen Nakashima.