Hello, I'm John Donvan, moderator of Intelligent Squared U.S.

Join us online at IQ2US.org to vote on the motion and keep the debate going.

Promises as the saying goes are made to be broken.

But taking an oath, that is meant to be solemn.

And the young man who spilled the secrets about the NSA, Edward Snowden,

he took an oath and it went like this to quote support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic.

So when Snowden broke secrecy, did he break his oath given that those secrets have now in all likelihood reached our enemies?

Or did he uphold his oath?

Because what he exposed in those programs arguably fights the Constitution itself.

Well, that sounds like the makings of a great debate.

So let's have it. Yes or no to this statement.

Snowden was justified, a debate from Intelligent Squared U.S.

I'm John Donvan. We're here at the Kauffman Music Center in New York City.

We have four superbly qualified debaters who will argue for and against this motion. Snowden was justified.

As always, our debate will go in three rounds and then our live audience votes to choose the winner and only one side wins.

And let's meet one of the first debaters here to argue in support of this motion.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Ben Weisner.

And Ben, you are the director of the ACLU Speech Privacy Technology Project.

You are also personally a legal adviser to Edward Snowden.

And Ben, we understand that two of you are in regular contact.

Not long ago, you were in Russia visiting him.

And so just out of curiosity, is he watching this debate tonight?

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