Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN Jun 13, 2013, 05.59AM IST WASHINGTON: Republican lawmakers, under whose dispensation the first pervasive intrusions into civil liberties began in the post-9 /11 era, were scathing against NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and his ilk of what they considered misguided youth. According to one account, South Carolina’s Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said the biggest threat US intelligence these days isn’t so much Russian spies, but disaffected young men like Snowden; Private Bradley Manning, who is accused of being behind Wikileaks; and Aaron Swartz, the activist founder of social news site Reddit who committed suicide earlier this year after the government brought charges of wire and computer fraud for illegally downloading millions of documents on him. Continue reading →