Glenn Greenwald Quotes

Secrecy is the linchpin of abuse of power, . . . its enabling force. Transparency is the only real antidote.

Transparency is for those who carry out public duties and exercise public power. Privacy is for everyone else.

The ultimate test of a society's freedom is not how it treats its good, obedient, compliant citizens; it's how it treats its dissidents.

Edward Snowden: The Whistleblower Behind the NSA Surveillance Revelations

It's hard to imagine a more potent sign of a weak, declining empire than having one's national 'credibility' depend upon periodically bombing other countries.

When you cheer for the erosion of Dzhokhar Tsarnaevs rights, you're cheering for the erosion of your own.

The definition of an extreme authoritarian is one who is willing blindly to assume that government accusations are true without any evidence presented or opportunity to contest those accusations.

Terrorism': the word that means nothing, yet justifies everything.

Only In America can a renowned and devoted terrorism supporter like Peter King be the arbiter of national security and treason.

Terrorist', noun: 1. Someone my government tells me is a terrorist; 2. Someone my President decides to kill.

I think that - not just as a journalist but as a human being - I have the ethical responsibility to avoid actions that can harm innocent people.

I know it's a really hard concept to process, but the fact that Govt accuses someone of being a Terrorist doesn't mean they are.

I don't have a 'side'—I'm responsible for what I say and nothing else.

It’s just simply the fact that the NSA does not think anybody should be able to communicate anywhere on the Earth without them being able to invade it.

The more fear confrontational activism can put into the heart of the political class, the better.

When journalists are 'accused' of being 'advocates', that means: challenging and deviating from DC orthodoxies.

Fearlessness can be its own form of power.

American political culture quickly and always outpaces any attempt to satirize it.

It's common to go from 'crashing the gate' to guarding it.

He's the President—it's the responsibility of every citizen to criticize aggressively when they think it's warranted.

[N]othing is less reliable than unchecked claims from political officials that their secret conduct is justified by National Security Threats and the desire to Keep Us Safe.

A citizenry that is aware of always being watched quickly becomes a compliant and fearful one.

We should not be comfortable or content in a society where the only way to remain free of surveillance and repression is if we make ourselves as unthreatning, passive, and compliant as possible.

What state surveillance actually is is best understood by the NSA's own documents and own words, which I think as you know I happen to have a lot of.

The War on Terror has been and continues to be, above all, a war on the most basic liberties and political safeguards that we're all taught are what distinguishes the US and keeps it free.

If you remove the fear of criminal punishment for the nation's political and financial elites - as we have done - what possible constraint on their behavior does anyone think will remain?

A key purpose of journalism is to provide an adversarial check on those who wield the greatest power by shining a light on what they do in the dark, and informing the public about those acts.

To permit surveillance to take root on the Internet would mean subjecting virtually all forms of human interaction, planning, and even thought itself to comprehensive state examination.

Beyond all the other reasons not to do it, free speech assaults always backfire: they transform bigots into martyrs.

For those suggesting criticisms of drone kills should wait until the election: that'd be reasonable if he stops killing until the election.

A president who is burdened with a failed and unpopular war, and who has lost the trust of the country, simply can no longer govern. He is destined to become as much a failure as his war.

I'd like to vote for the candidate similar to the one the Right absurdly claims Obama is.

Incestuous, homogeneous fiefdoms of self-proclaimed expertise are always rank-closing and mutually self-defending, above all else.

They're called 'facts', and my role is to amplify those, not cheerlead. And I don't care at all what you think of my motives.

The hallmark of an authoritarian idiot is yelling TERRORIST-LOVER! at anyone questioning the definition of Terrorist.

The same president who has insisted that core moralism drives him has brought America to its lowest moral standing in history.

The bottom layer of the right-wing noise machine.

Many of the most important stories in the history of modern journalism have come from sources who have taken information without authorization.

You can't have a pristine house with ten dogs, and I'd rather have the ten dogs.

It's so much easier to debate people when you can pretend that they hold moronic position that they don't actually believe.

The government usually announces it killed a Big Terrorist 5 or 6 different times before they're dead - they're almost like cats.

When poor and ordinary Americans who commit crimes are prosecuted and imprisoned, that is Justice. When the same thing is done to Washington elites, that is Ugly Retribution.

[I]f you want instant, reflexive support for the US government's police and military powers, MSNBC is the place to turn these days.

Of all the views that are detached from reality, the most delusional is that Christians are persecuted in the U.S.

Nobody really even knows with whom the US is at war, or where. Everyone just knows that it is vital that it continue in unlimited form indefinitely.

The genius of America's endless war machine is that, learning from the unpleasantness of the Vietnam war protests, it has rendered the costs of war largely invisible.

The key question: will the NSA continue to monitor hundreds of millions of people without any suspicion? Under Obama's proposals: Yes.

The American Right has an amazing ability to lionize leaders whose lives are the precise antithesis of the political values that define their image.

In video games, one of the most helpless against injustice can even mighty.

Washington likes to threaten the people over whom they exercise power.