In an interview with MSNBC Thursday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder acknowledged for the first time that the Department of Justice may be open to a plea bargain with Edward Snowden.
The interview aired on MSNBC’s “The Cycle” and was done to correspond with the attorney general’s visit to the Roanoke, Va., Federal Veterans’ Court — which arranges alternative sentences to military veterans’ minor offenses.
Snowden, who while an employee with National Security Agency contractor Booz Allen Hamilton stolen and leaked thousands of pages of classified information on the NSA’s electronic surveillance program, is currently under temporary asylum in Russia. He is currently facing indictment on charges of theft, “unauthorized communication of national defense information” and “willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorized person.” The last two charges are authorized under the Espionage Act of 1917. He could face up to 30 years in prison.
The Obama administration has successfully prosecuted more cases of government whistleblowers than any presidential administration before it. It has been alleged that the U.S. has placed an enormous amount of international pressure on retrieving Snowden, stripping him of his passport and threatening nations that offer to harbor him.
In July, France, Spain, Italy and Portugal denied the airplane carrying Bolivian President Evo Morales permission to refuel in Lisbon on the mistaken assumption Snowden was aboard.
“He broke the law, he caused harm to our national security – I think he has to be held accountable for his actions,” Holder said to MSNBC.
Holder said he would “engage in conversations” as in any plea negotiation, should Snowden’s lawyers seek a deal that recognizes Snowden’s accountability.
However, Snowden stated that this is impossible.
“Returning to the U.S., I think, is the best resolution for the government, the public, and myself, but it’s unfortunately not possible in the face of current whistleblower protection laws, which through a failure in law did not cover national security contractors like myself,” Snowden said in an online chat Thursday. ”The 100-year-old law under which I’ve been charged, which was never intended to be used against people working in the public interest, and forbids a public interest defense. This is especially frustrating, because it means there’s no chance to have a fair trial, and no way I can come home and make my case to a jury.”
Based on Snowden’s revelations, the NSA program has fallen under extreme scrutiny. On Thursday, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board released a report indicating that the mass surveillance program is in violation of the Patriot Act.
In addition, the report found that the program is unconstitutional, as it violates the guarantees of free speech and protection against unreasonable searches, is in violation of federal privacy laws and extends the definition of terrorism arbitrarily.
Even worse, the report argues that the effect of the surveillance to stop terrorist attacks is minimal.
“The program supplied no advance notice of attempted attacks on the New York City subway, the failed Christmas Day airliner bombing, or the failed Times Square car bombing,” the report said.
Last month, a federal court found the NSA program “likely unconstitutional.”
Holder recognized that what Snowden did was healthy for the nation, but the beneficial nature of the action does not forgive the crime.
“People have really gotten hung up on the idea of whether he’s a whistleblower or something else,” Holder said. “From my perspective, he’s a defendant. He’s a person that we lodged criminal charges against. I think that’s the most apt title.”