A Real Life Thriller. Or, why Edward Snowden should fear the Espionage Act

IF JAKE GYLLENHAAL isn’t preparing to play the role of Edward Snowden in the inevitable Hollywood biopic, then he should be. The sheer drama of the 30 year-old whistleblower’s story must already have screenwriters scrabbling to keep up. From his job in Hawaii, managing information for the National Security Agency, to a safe-house in Hong Kong, to an Aeroflot airliner en route to Moscow, and from there to Cuba and, eventually, political asylum in Ecuador – the Snowden story already boasts more location changes than The Bourne Identity.

And the excitement is far from over. Seldom have so many nation states given the United States of America so many one-fingered salutes. Ignoring the Great Hegemon’s pre-emptory demand that Snowden be taken into custody, pending extradition on a charge of espionage, the Hong Kong authorities instead put him on a plane for Moscow. Arriving in the Russian capital, Snowden learned that President Vladimir Putin, not in the least impressed by the US Government’s very public cancellation of the whistleblower’s passport, was ready to put him on a plane to Havana.

The United States is not used to being humiliated in this fashion and its retaliation is likely to be swift and brutal. Would it go as far as intercepting the aircraft carrying Snowden to Cuba? If it’s a large passenger plane, probably not. Even so, Snowden should exercise extreme caution when arranging his travel to Ecuador. Accidents will happen – especially to light aircraft carrying dangerous cargo! Even on Ecuadorian soil, Snowden will still need to keep his eyes open and watch his back. There may already be a killer drone with his name on it, and South America is full of School of the Americas alumni. No one should be surprised if, at some point in the near future, the American media broadcasts images of Edward Snowden in hand-cuffs (or his corpse!) being driven away from Dulles International Airport at speed to “an undisclosed location”.

The legislation Snowden is charged with violating, The Espionage Act, is itself compelling evidence of how savage the US Government’s response can be when it believes itself to be threatened by “the enemy within”.

The Espionage Act dates from 1917 – the year the United States entered World War I on the side of Britain, France and Russia. With millions of German- and Irish-Americans in its population, and millions more recent immigrants from Russia and Eastern Europe – at that time in the throes of revolution – the US Government was fearful that the decision to go to war would spur the growth of the already large American anti-war movement into a political force powerful enough to pull the United States out of the conflict.

The President, Woodrow Wilson, who had proudly claimed that the USA was entering the war to “make the world safe for democracy” appealed to Congress for draconian powers to supress any and all attempts to challenge his Administration’s war policies.

Under the Act it became an offence:

“To convey information with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the armed forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies. This was punishable by death or by imprisonment for not more than 30 years or both.

“To convey false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies when the United States is at war, to cause or attempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or to wilfully obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States. This was punishable by a maximum fine of $10,000 or by imprisonment for not more than 20 years or both.”

In 1918, following the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, the Espionage Act was amended by the addition of a clutch of even more draconian provisions – known rather confusingly as “The Sedition Act”. These made it illegal to utter, write or print: “any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States … or the flag of the United States, or the uniform of the Army or Navy”.

Over the next two years the Espionage Act was used to fine or imprison scores of American citizens. Eugene Victor Debs, the Socialist Party’s presidential candidate in 1904, 1908 and 1912 was imprisoned for five years for obstructing recruitment – he had delivered an anti-war speech. The publishers of The Finished Mystery – a religious tract – were sentenced to four concurrent 20-year sentences for stating that “patriotism was a delusion and murder”. (Their convictions were overturned on appeal.)

Following a series of anarchist bombings – including an unsuccessful attempt on the life of the US Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer, hundreds of politically active immigrants, including the famous anarchist firebrand, Emma Goldman, were rounded up and deported to revolutionary Russia.

These so-called “Palmer Raids”, organised by an ambitious young Justice Department official named J. Edgar Hoover, also apprehended and imprisoned many of the leaders of the radical trade union movement known as the Industrial Workers of the World – some of whom languished in federal penitentiaries for up to four years before their sentences were finally commuted.

In the atmosphere of paranoia and hysteria created by the Espionage Act it was even possible for the Speaker of the New York State legislature to refuse to allow the five Socialist Party assemblymen, representatives of the radical immigrant precincts of New York City, to take their seats.

That the Espionage Act, a relic of the “Red Scare” of 1917-1920, has been called back into service by the Obama Administration to apprehend and punish anyone (most notably Private Bradley Manning who leaked thousands of classified military and diplomatic files to Wikileaks) for daring to question the purposes and/or conduct of the US armed forces, or who, like Edward Snowden, blows the whistle on the frightening over-reach of the US “national security” apparatus, reveals how very deeply resistant to change the American system truly is.

Which, thinking about it a little more, means that Hollywood almost certainly will NOT be commissioning a blockbuster biopic of Edward Snowden’s remarkable adventures, and that Jake Gyllenhaal will likely restrict himself to playing less challenging (that is, strictly fictional) cinematic heroes.