In this January 22, 2022 feature published by Politiken, Sebastian Stryhn Kjeldtoft interviews Edward Snowden who claims that the Danish government is attempting to silence whistleblowers by threatening penalties previously accosted to traitors.

Snowden refers to the cases of Minister of Defense Claus Hjort Frederiksen and the repatriated head of the Defense Intelligence Service (FE), Lars Findsen. In December 2021, Frederiksen revealed the collusion between the US National Security Agency (NSA) and the FE in intercepting fiber cables in Denmark, as part of a global surveillance program.

Snowden also revealed that there are confidential documents detailing the Danish-American cooperation which has never been published. He says, “It all takes place in deep secrecy between presidents and prime ministers. They sign an understanding paper, which they later show to their successors. It’s a kind of secret handshake. From the point of view of the intelligence services, that’s great. No one knows what they are doing, but they have a good working relationship. The question for me to see is – that since there has never been any public debate and the public does not even have to know that the partnership exists – how can it be said to be a democratic partnership?”

He adds, “What we have ended up with is a series of secret decisions made by people who cannot be held accountable because no one knows what they did until they have long since retired. But we are talking about surveillance programs that violate the rights of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people every single day. So basic issues should be addressed publicly. Not by a few people behind closed doors who decide it on our behalf.”

Editor’s Note: We encourage you to read the full article to fully understand the impact of this revelation made by Snowden. He is essentially saying that Western countries have already made it a standard operating procedure (SOP) to spy on their citizens without their knowledge.

Privacy violations of Big Tech companies pale in comparison to the mass surveillance being undertaken by Western governments. Denmark claims that this “secrecy” is the “foundation for us to preserve our freedom”. The bigger question is, what is: who gave the government this mandate?

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