Snowden's Actions: What Laws Were Broken?

Edward Snowden, a former NSA intelligence contractor, leaked classified documents in 2013, revealing the existence of global surveillance programs. Snowden was charged with espionage by the US government and fled the country, seeking asylum in Russia.

Snowden's actions are considered by many to have violated the Espionage Act of 1917, which identifies the leak of state secrets as an act of treason. However, there is debate surrounding the ethical implications of his actions, with some arguing that he had a moral obligation to inform the public.

The US government has pursued both criminal and civil charges against Snowden. While the criminal charges relate to Snowden's alleged disclosure of classified information, the civil lawsuit focuses on his alleged violation of non-disclosure agreements by publishing a book and giving public speeches without prior approval from the CIA and NSA.

Snowden broke the Espionage Act of 1917

On June 21, 1983, Edward Snowden was born in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Snowden's father, Lonnie, was a warrant officer in the U.S. Coast Guard, and his mother, Elizabeth, was a clerk at the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Snowden enlisted in the United States Army on May 7, 2004, and became a Special Forces candidate. However, he did not complete the training due to a leg injury and was given an administrative discharge on September 28, 2004.

Snowden was an American former NSA intelligence contractor and whistleblower who leaked classified documents revealing the existence of global surveillance programs. In 2013, Snowden leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA). He was indicted for espionage and his disclosures revealed numerous global surveillance programs, many run by the NSA and the Five Eyes intelligence alliance with the cooperation of telecommunication companies and European governments.

On June 14, 2013, United States federal prosecutors filed a criminal complaint against Snowden, charging him with three felonies: theft of government property and two counts of violating the Espionage Act of 1917 through unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorized person.

The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law enacted on June 15, 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I. It was intended to prohibit interference with military operations or recruitment, to prevent insubordination in the military, and to prevent the support of enemies of the United States during wartime. The Act imposed much stiffer penalties than previous laws, including the death penalty.

The law is vague and overbroad with a long and sordid history of suppressing legitimate dissent. With its broad language, the Espionage Act prohibits the publication of information by anyone to be used "to the injury of the United States." Originally designed to prosecute spies bringing military secrets back home, this Act has been used against whistleblowers, not spies, who release information that they believe is in the American interest. Snowden himself is confident about the positive impact of his disclosures. In a 2019 interview, he said, "we live in a better, freer, and safe world because of the revelations of mass surveillance."

He exposed the NSA's illegal mass surveillance

Edward Snowden, a former NSA intelligence contractor and whistleblower, exposed the NSA's illegal mass surveillance program in 2013. Snowden revealed the existence of global surveillance programs, many of which were run by the NSA and the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, in cooperation with telecommunication companies and European governments.

Snowden's disclosures revealed that the NSA was secretly building a vast database of US telephone records—the who, the how, the when, and the where of millions of mobile calls. This was the first and most explosive of the Snowden revelations published by The Guardian in 2013.

Up until Snowden's disclosures, top intelligence officials publicly insisted that the NSA never knowingly collected information on Americans. After the program's exposure, US officials argued that the spying had played a crucial role in fighting domestic extremism. In particular, they cited the case of four San Diego residents who were accused of providing aid to religious fanatics in Somalia.

However, in 2020, an appeals court found that the NSA's warrantless telephone dragnet violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and may have been unconstitutional. The court also ruled that the US intelligence leaders who publicly defended the program were not telling the truth.

Snowden, who fled to Russia after the 2013 disclosures, was charged with two counts of violating the Espionage Act of 1917 and theft of government property. Snowden's actions sparked debates over mass surveillance, government secrecy, and the balance between national security and information privacy. While some have criticised Snowden's actions as illegal and unethical, others have defended him as a whistleblower and a hero.

Snowden fled to Russia

Edward Snowden fled to Russia after leaking secret files that revealed domestic and international surveillance operations carried out by the US National Security Agency (NSA). He was granted asylum in Russia in 2013, and in 2022, he became a naturalized Russian citizen.

Snowden's decision to flee to Russia came after the US government charged him with espionage and revoked his passport. He initially flew to Hong Kong, but when he attempted to fly to Cuba via Moscow, he was unable to board the plane as his passport had been revoked. He was then stranded in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport for over a month. During this time, Russia granted Snowden asylum, allowing him to stay in the country.

Snowden has said that he fled to Russia because he felt there was no safe way to reach Latin America, where he had intended to seek asylum. He believed that the CIA had a strong presence in Latin America and that he would be at risk of being captured. Snowden also cited the Morales plane incident as a reason for his decision to stay in Russia. In this incident, the plane of Bolivian president Evo Morales was forced to land in Austria due to suspicions that Snowden was on board.

While living in Russia, Snowden has kept a low profile, occasionally posting photographs of his family in Moscow. He has expressed a willingness to return to the US if he is guaranteed a fair trial. In 2020, he and his wife applied for Russian citizenship, citing their desire to be close to their future son and their families. Snowden was granted Russian citizenship in 2022, and he now holds dual US-Russian citizenship.

He was charged with theft of government property

On June 21, 2013, the United States Department of Justice charged Edward Snowden with theft of government property and two counts of violating the Espionage Act of 1917.

Snowden was a former employee of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and a contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA). He was charged with theft of government property because he allegedly stole confidential government documents and leaked them to the press. Snowden revealed the existence of previously classified mass intelligence-gathering surveillance programs run by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and the U.K.’s intelligence organization, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).

The U.S. government alleged that Snowden stole and leaked highly classified information, including details about the NSA's collection of phone records of millions of Americans. Snowden's actions sparked intense debates about national security, individual privacy, and the balance between the two.

Snowden himself defended his actions, arguing that he had a moral obligation to inform the public about the government's surveillance programs. He claimed that he tried to raise his ethical concerns through internal channels within the NSA but was ignored. Snowden's actions have been described as "whistleblowing" by some, who argue that he exposed government misconduct and violated an unjust law to serve the public good.

However, others, including U.S. government officials, have criticized Snowden's actions as illegal and harmful to national security. They argue that Snowden should be held accountable for his actions and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The charges against Snowden, including theft of government property, remain in place, and he continues to face legal consequences for his actions.

Snowden's actions were ethically justifiable

Edward Snowden's actions were ethically justifiable.

Snowden, a former CIA systems administrator and NSA contractor, leaked confidential government documents to the press in 2013. These documents revealed the existence of government surveillance programs that collected the telephone records of millions of Americans.

Snowden argued that he had a moral obligation to act and a duty to inform the public of the government's violation of their privacy. He believed that the government's actions had to be exposed, regardless of legality. Jesselyn Radack of the Government Accountability Project defended Snowden's actions as ethical, stating that he acted from a sense of public good. Radack also argued that Snowden may have violated a secrecy agreement, but that this was less important than the social contract a democracy has with its citizenry.

In addition, Snowden's actions may have been ethically justifiable because the law he broke was unjust and unconstitutional. According to Snowden, the Espionage Act of 1917, which he was charged under, is vague and overbroad. The law has a long history of suppressing legitimate dissent and does not provide clear guidance on what constitutes a national security risk or injury to the United States. As such, Snowden's actions may have been ethically justifiable if the law he broke was unethical itself.

Furthermore, at the time of Snowden's disclosure, U.S. law provided little to no whistleblower protection for employees and contractors of national security agencies. This lack of protection may have left Snowden with no choice but to disclose information to the press.

Finally, Snowden's actions led to a public debate about national security and individual privacy, with some arguing that his revelations made the world a safer and freer place. A U.S. federal court also ruled in 2020 that one of the mass surveillance programs exposed by Snowden was illegal and possibly unconstitutional. This ruling suggests that Snowden's actions were ethically justifiable, as they helped shed light on unlawful government activities.

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