Graydon Carter,
Editor of Vanity Fair
4 Times Square
1472 Broadway,
New York City, New York
10036

Dear Mr. Carter,

This letter is in regards to your Editor’s Letter appearing in the May 2014 issue of Vanity Fair. In it, you talk about the Edward Snowden affair and the dubious actions of the NSA. I see that you were able to mention President Bush II three times, Vice President Dick Cheney twice and Prime Minister Tony Blair once, but nary a mention of the current “Listener in Chief,” President Barack Obama. I find this curious since you refer to the fact that the NSA was listening in on the phone conversations of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. We have credible evidence that while this eavesdropping on Chancellor Merkel started under Bush II, it continued under the Obama administration, with President Obama being briefed of the situation as well.

You also inform us that “Amazingly, this regime of near-total surveillance probably did not cross any legal boundaries—it may be criminal, but not technically a crime.” I believe the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution is fairly clear and unambiguous in this matter. It states “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

Mr. Carter, you are that most vile and loathsome creature known to man; an apologist and docile servant to State power.

The readers of Vanity Fair deserve better.

Sincerely yours,

Tom McNamara
Assistant Professor
The ESC Rennes School of Business

Dr. Tom McNamara is an Assistant Professor at the ESC Rennes School of Business, France, and a former Visiting Lecturer at the French National Military Academy at Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan, France.

References

“Barack Obama knew US spies were targeting Germany’s Angela Merkel: reports” by Michael Vincent, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) News, October 28, 2013. Accessed at:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-28/claims-obama-was-aware-of-merkel-phone-tapping/5048718

“Edward Snowden and The Security-Industrial Complex” by Graydon Carter, Vanity Fair, May 2014. Accessed at:
http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2014/05/graydon-carter-edward-snowden

“Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution” Legal Information Institute, Cornell University Law School. Accessed at:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/fourth_amendment

“NSA listed Merkel among leaders subject to surveillance – report” by Martin Pengelly, The Guardian, March 29, 2014. Accessed at:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/29/nsa-merkel-leaders-surveillance-documents-snowden

“NSA surveillance: Merkel’s phone may have been monitored ‘for over 10 years’” by Kevin Rawlinson, The Guardian – The Observer, October 26, 2013. Accessed at:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/26/nsa-surveillance-brazil-germany-un-resolution