U.S. charges Snowden with espionage

[jimnyc]

Federal prosecutors have filed a criminal complaint against Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked a trove of documents about top-secret surveillance programs, and the United States has asked Hong Kong to detain him on a provisional arrest warrant, according to U.S. officials.

Snowden was charged with theft, “unauthorized communication of national defense information” and “willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorized person,” according to the complaint. The last two charges were brought under the 1917 Espionage Act.

The complaint, which initially was sealed, was filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, a jurisdiction where Snowden’s former employer, Booz Allen Hamilton, is headquartered and a district with a long track record of prosecuting cases with national security implications. After The Washington Post reported the charges, senior administration officials said late Friday that the Justice Department was barraged with calls from lawmakers and reporters and decided to unseal the criminal complaint.

A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.

Snowden flew to Hong Kong last month after leaving his job at an NSA facility in Hawaii with a collection of highly classified documents that he acquired while working at the agency as a systems analyst.

The documents, some of which have been published in The Post and Britain’s Guardian newspaper, detailed some of the most-
secret surveillance operations undertaken by the United States and Britain , as well as classified legal memos and court orders underpinning the programs in the United States.

The 30-year-old intelligence analyst revealed himself June 9 as the leaker in an interview with the Guardian and said he went to Hong Kong because it provided the “cultural and legal framework to allow me to work without being immediately detained.”

Snowden subsequently disappeared from public view; it is thought that he is still in the Chinese territory. Hong Kong has its own legislative and legal systems but ultimately answers to Beijing, under the “one country, two systems” arrangement.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...4cc_print.html

[Voted4Reagan]

He's a Traitor...

Hang him

[WiccanLiberal]

Anybody know if he was required to sign an NDA? If so he has even less ability at a defense.

[logroller]

He's a Traitor...

Hang him

Why even bother with the court system...or reading the OP for that matter.

[jimnyc]

Anybody know if he was required to sign an NDA? If so he has even less ability at a defense.

Without even having insider knowledge, I can guarantee you that he did. Generally speaking, ANY person with any type of security clearance is going to have to be vetted and sign non-disclosures, whether that be the CIA, NSA or a contractor working for either agency.

[jimnyc]

Why even bother with the court system...or reading the OP for that matter.

Snowden sure didn't bother with our justice system...

Nonetheless, I would be thrilled to see him have his day in court, and have due process afforded to him, only he is doing his best to afford the US system and is choosing to use China's legal system instead.

[jimnyc]

Precedent on the espionage act on a similar case of divulging secrets to the "press". Sounds like Snowden better hope for a pardon if he comes back to the States.

Samuel Loring Morison was a government security analyst who worked on the side for Jane's, a British military and defense publisher. He was arrested on October 1, 1984,[72] though investigators never demonstrated any intent to provide information to a hostile intelligence service. Morison told investigators that he sent classified satellite photographs to Jane's because the "public should be aware of what was going on on the other side", meaning that the Soviets' new nuclear-powered aircraft carrier would transform the USSR's military capabilities. He said that "if the American people knew what the Soviets were doing, they would increase the defense budget." British intelligence sources thought his motives were patriotic, but American prosecutors emphasized Morison's personal economic gain and complaints about his government job.[73]

The prosecution of Morison was used as part of a wider campaign against leaks of information as a "test case" for applying the Act to cover the disclosure of information to the press. A March 1984 government report had noted that "the unauthorized publication of classified information is a routine daily occurrence in the U.S." but that the applicability of the Espionage Act to such disclosures "is not entirely clear".[74] Time said that the administration, if it failed to convict Morison, would seek additional legislation and described the ongoing conflict: "The Government does need to protect military secrets, the public does need information to judge defense policies, and the line between the two is surpassingly difficult to draw."[74]

On October 17, 1985, Morison was convicted in Federal Court on two counts of espionage and two counts of theft of government property.[74] He was sentenced to two years in prison on on December 4, 1985.[75] The Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal in 1988.[76] Morison became "the only [American] government official ever convicted for giving classified information to the press" up to that time.[77] Following a 1998 appeal for a pardon on the part of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, President Bill Clinton pardoned Morison on January 20, 2001, the last day of his presidency,[77] despite the CIA's opposition to the pardon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espiona...f_1917#Morison

[jimnyc]

Hell, this guy was jailed for simply possessing documents after he left the NSA:

Kenneth Wayne Ford Jr. was indicted under the Espionage Act 18 U.S.C. § 793(e) for allegedly having a box of documents in his house after he left NSA employment around 2004. He was sentenced to six years in prison in 2006.

And then this one:

Jeffrey Alexander Sterling, a former CIA agent was indicted under the Act in January 2011 for alleged unauthorized disclosure of national defense information to James Risen, a New York Times reporter, in 2003 regarding his book State of War. The indictment described his motive as revenge for the CIA's refusal to allow him to publish his memoirs and its refusal to settle his racial discrimination lawsuit against the Agency. Others have described him as telling Risen about a backfired CIA plot against Iran in the 1990s.

For simple sharing with a blogger:

In May 2010, Shamai K. Leibowitz, a translator for the FBI, admitted sharing information with a blogger and plead guilty to one count of disclosure of classified information (18 U.S.C. § 798(a)(3)). As part of a plea bargain, he was sentenced to 20 months in prison.

Another case where a contractor released information to the press:

In August 2010, Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, a contractor for the State Department and a specialist in nuclear proliferation, was indicted under the Act for alleged disclosure of national defense information 18 U.S.C. § 793(d) in June 2009 to reporter James Rosen of Fox News, related to North Korea's plans to test a nuclear weapon.

All on the previously linked Wiki page.

[aboutime]

Bottom line here. The man has Betrayed the trust of the American people with his disclosures of..classified information...otherwise known as "SECRETS".

Now. Let's play a little game here.

Pretend YOU...the person now reading this. Shared a personal secret with someone you have always trusted.

Now. Pretend a few days have passed, and you overhear someone else you know talking about that SECRET you shared with someone you trusted....WOULD NOT TELL ANYONE ELSE.

Bring us to today. YOU are the UNITED STATES of AMERICA, and someone you paid, signed a contract, and an agreement NEVER TO DISCLOSE the classified information you gave that person access to.

HOW WOULD YOU FEEL?

[logroller]

Bottom line here. The man has Betrayed the trust of the American people with his disclosures of..classified information...otherwise known as "SECRETS".

Now. Let's play a little game here.

Pretend YOU...the person now reading this. Shared a personal secret with someone you have always trusted.

Now. Pretend a few days have passed, and you overhear someone else you know talking about that SECRET you shared with someone you trusted....WOULD NOT TELL ANYONE ELSE.

Bring us to today. YOU are the UNITED STATES of AMERICA, and someone you paid, signed a contract, and an agreement NEVER TO DISCLOSE the classified information you gave that person access to.

HOW WOULD YOU FEEL?

I'd feel violated.
Lets play a similar game where you tell your neighbor to watch your house and, unbeknownst to you, he decides that watching your house involves tapping your phones and monitoring your Internet activities. Now, imagine your neighbor is actually the United States of America, entrusted to protect and defend the country bound only by the constitution; but since violations of this trust are secret, revealing them criminal, you'll never know. Do you feel less violated--Is ignorance bliss? Or are you ok with all your communications being monitored?

[jimnyc]

I'd feel violated.
Lets play a similar game where you tell your neighbor to watch your house and, unbeknownst to you, he decides that watching your house involves tapping your phones and monitoring your Internet activities. Now, imagine your neighbor is actually the United States of America, entrusted to protect and defend the country bound only by the constitution; but since violations of this trust are secret, revealing them criminal, you'll never know. Do you feel less violated--Is ignorance bliss? Or are you ok with all your communications being monitored?

The actions of the government are very, very hard to excuse and/or accept. Just as having an American citizen stealing from our intelligence agencies and sharing with a foreign press/government is very hard to accept. I hope there would be consequences for anyone that stepped over the line with this NSA crap, and at the VERY least, removal from office or removal by election. I also hope there are going to be consequences from the person who stole and shared national security secrets with a foreign government and newspaper. One doesn't have to choose sides on this, IMO.

[logroller]

The actions of the government are very, very hard to excuse and/or accept. Just as having an American citizen stealing from our intelligence agencies and sharing with a foreign press/government is very hard to accept. I hope there would be consequences for anyone that stepped over the line with this NSA crap, and at the VERY least, removal from office or removal by election. I also hope there are going to be consequences from the person who stole and shared national security secrets with a foreign government and newspaper. One doesn't have to choose sides on this, IMO.

and what about when the person that is removed is the one who reveals the oversteps through proper channels, and we never hear about it and the actions continue? What is to be done?

[revelarts]

He's a Traitor...
Hang him

The actions of the government are very, very hard to excuse and/or accept. Just as having an American citizen stealing from our intelligence agencies and sharing with a foreign press/government is very hard to accept. I hope there would be consequences for anyone that stepped over the line with this NSA crap, and at the VERY least, removal from office or removal by election. I also hope there are going to be consequences from the person who stole and shared national security secrets with a foreign government and newspaper. One doesn't have to choose sides on this, IMO.

the NSA, CIA, FBI, congress, the presidents are traitors.
Hang them

[Gaffer]

He's being called a traitor and other names because he let it be known that the NSA was wire tapping and illegally gathering information on all Americans and most foreign countries. He went to a foreign news organization to release this because he knew it would never get covered by our state run media. I have yet to see anything that endangers anyone other than making the NSA look like they have shit on their face.

[revelarts]

<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/80DbxSZ_FB8?feature=player_detailpage" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" width="640"></iframe>

Man gets charged and threaten with 75 years in Prison for "eavesdropping" IN PUBLIC a PUBLIC OFFICIAL.

how much more, how many counts against the NSA CIA Presidents etc etc .. could be brought? how many time has the almighty law been broken in various States.
the State AGs Should Arrest those involved.
and of course hang them

or at least life in prison.


http://reason.com/blog/2011/09/20/il...ejects-eavesdr

<header> Judge Rejects Eavesdropping Charges for Recording Police

Jacob Sullum|<time datetime="2011-09-20T20:17:00+00:00">Sep. 20, 2011 4:17 pm</time>
</header> Michael Allison, an Illinois man who faced a potential sentence of 75 years in prison for recording police officers and attempting to tape his own trial, caught a break last week when a state judge declared the charges unconstitutional."A statute intended to prevent unwarranted intrusions into a citizen’s privacy cannot be used as a shield for public officials who cannot assert a comparable right of privacy in their public duties," wrote Circuit Court Judge David Frankland. "Such action impedes the free flow of information concerning public officials and violates the First Amendment right to gather such information."