
U.S. charges Edward Snowden with espionage - o0-0o
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-charges-snowden-with-espionage/2013/06/21/507497d8-dab1-11e2-a016-92547bf094cc_print.html
======
DanielBMarkham
So now is the time to identify the federal prosecutors who filed this and
petition the government to have them fired. In addition, of course, to asking
for a complete pardon for Snowden.

It also should be noted that any of the Congressional investigations into this
mess are perfectly capable of giving Snowden a grant of immunity from
prosecution.

People ask what to do. There are at least two avenues open to nip this
completely in the bud before prosecutors get rolling, and several other ways
of notifying our elected representatives that going down this path is
unacceptable.

These are political charges, and as the governed we should stand up to the
people who are supposed to be working for us and demand that they be dropped.
Immediately.

~~~
DanielRibeiro
The pardon petition also only needs more 7k signatures:
[https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/pardon-edward-
snow...](https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/pardon-edward-
snowden/Dp03vGYD?at93)

Remember that the goal is to get the government address the issue, and show
that the people are not fine with the NSA's actions. It would be nice to get
them to actually pardon him, but that is a much harder goal.

~~~
evilduck
Has any whitehouse.gov petition ever led to actual action being taken?

~~~
fusiongyro
It takes ten seconds and costs nothing. I honestly don't understand the
argument against it. It may be no better than nothing, but it can hardly be
worse.

~~~
InclinedPlane
It does cost something. It makes you feel like you've done something, so you
perhaps have less motivation to do something more substantive such as writing
your congressional reps and senators.

Which is a far more meaningful act than signing these useless online
petitions.

~~~
fusiongyro
There are always ways to do more, but in my experience this line of reasoning
actually deflates more than it inspires. If someone has 10 seconds to sign the
petition, let them sign the petition and go about their day rather than
wasting 10 seconds making them feel guilty for not doing more.

------
unimpressive
"The same night two prominent Kadet leaders, Professor F. Kokoshkin, and Dr.
A. Shingarev, were murdered in a hospital by a group of Bolshevik sailors.
When Lenin heard of the ensuing protest meetings held by the Social
Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks, he said cynically: 'Let them protest, let
them bubble over with rage, let them rave some, sigh some, drink a lot of tea
and talk until dawn; then they will surely soon fall asleep.'" \- _A history
of Soviet Russia_ , George Von Rauch, Fifth Revised Edition, 1967

I can't help but think of that every time I read one of these threads.
Especially when people ask for things like the dismissal of the prosecutors,
in complete disregard that this agenda comes straight from the White House.

~~~
mcantelon
Yup. Since 9/11 the US state has been working hard to consolidate its domestic
power, creating a domestic counter-insurgence force (the DHS) to circumvent
the Posse Comitatus Act and a command-structure for military action within the
continent (NORTHCOM), among many other complementary developments. Wherever
the agenda originated, both political parties are following it and the power
consolidation is unlikely to stop until completion barring some disruptive
influence.

------
codex
It looks like this charge can carry the death penalty because it involves
"communications intelligence". From
[http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/794](http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/794):

"(a) Whoever, with intent or reason to believe that it is to be used to the
injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation,
communicates, delivers, or transmits, or attempts to communicate, deliver, or
transmit, to any foreign government, or to any faction or party or military or
naval force within a foreign country, whether recognized or unrecognized by
the United States, or to any representative, officer, agent, employee,
subject, or citizen thereof, either directly or indirectly, any document,
writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative,
blueprint, plan, map, model, note, instrument, appliance, or information
relating to the national defense, shall be punished by death or by
imprisonment for any term of years or for life, except that the sentence of
death shall not be imposed unless the jury or, if there is no jury, the court,
further finds that the offense resulted in the identification by a foreign
power (as defined in section 101(a) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Act of 1978) of an individual acting as an agent of the United States and
consequently in the death of that individual, or directly concerned nuclear
weaponry, military spacecraft or satellites, early warning systems, or other
means of defense or retaliation against large-scale attack; war plans;
communications intelligence or cryptographic information; or any other major
weapons system or major element of defense strategy."

~~~
spdy
Now the states he can move to just went up.

 _Death penalty: Many countries, such as Australia, Canada, Macao, New
Zealand, South Africa, and most European nations except Belarus, will not
allow extradition if the death penalty may be imposed on the suspect unless
they are assured that the death sentence will not be passed or carried out._

~~~
monkeynotes
I don't think Virginia allows the death penalty for espionage:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Virginia#...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Virginia#Capital_offenses)

~~~
dragonwriter
> I don't think Virginia allows the death penalty for espionage:

I'd be surprised if espionage, per se, is even an offense under Virginia state
law, but it really doesn't matter what Virginia law is since he is being
charged with crimes under _federal_ law in _federal_ court that happens to be
located in Virginia.

There are times when federal courts, for a variety of reasons, hear state law
claims, and in those cases the remedies allowed by the state are relevant. But
when federal courts hear federal claims, the state law of the state in which
the federal court happens to sit is irrelevant.

------
olefoo
The fact that Holder and Obama chose to drop their charges into public view
smack in the middle of the friday night news blackout shows that they lack
confidence and feel weak in the face of negative public opinion.

We are entering into the seminal stages of a struggle for the 21st Century;
will the future be defined by unaccountable power?

Will we all live in the Panopticon with the sole exception of the ODNI or
whatever Cabal is the inner circle of the Intelligence Community?

Will the US (and the world) be ruled by secret laws negotiated as "trade
treaties"; that give corporate organizations greater power than any
legislature accountable to the citizenry?

Snowden's revelations are merely one set of secrets that we deserve to know.
There many more, and every one of those secrets deserves exposure. We, the
people of earth; deserve to know what is being done to us by our leaders.

When a government has so profoundly violated the people's trust as ours;
questioning it's legitimacy is... legitimate.

------
mindcrime
Meanwhile, the petition to pardon him[1] only needs ~8000 more signatures to
require a response.

[1]: [https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/pardon-edward-
snow...](https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/pardon-edward-
snowden/Dp03vGYD)

~~~
wl
The response they've given in the past to pardon petitions isn't much of a
response at all. I expect a similar non-answer here.

Cf. [https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/response/why-we-cant-
commen...](https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/response/why-we-cant-comment-
bradley-manning) [https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/response/why-we-
can’t-comme...](https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/response/why-we-
can’t-comment-marc-emery)

~~~
zachgersh
That's actually really sad that they will blatantly not comment on a high
profile petition.

~~~
mpyne
Why do people on here simultaneously ask for "no selective enforcement!" but
then when it's _their guy_ in trouble, ask for special favors?

------
mtgx
Greenwald:

"The Obama DOJ just charged its 7th leaker under "espionage" statute - total
for ALL prior presidents: 3"

[https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/348202448437002240](https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/348202448437002240)

~~~
anigbrowl
A predictably meaningless 'statistic' from Greenwald. For context, how many
other leakers were there in the past who were not charged?

~~~
Andrew_Quentin
Since 1917? I'd think quite a few

------
staunch
For anyone else who thinks what he did was right: it's _our_ job to make sure
he gets pardoned. He did his part.

~~~
alan_cx
I like that idea.

Clearly the US government have to prosecute him with something. Cant encourage
it and all that. And presumably he leaked this info knowing full well that the
US government would have little choice but do this.

So, I suppose the perfect out come would be: go back to the US, get charged,
go to court, admit guilt, get sentenced, then hopefully a President can pardon
him.

Now, how one can ensure such an out come, I have zero idea.

All assuming he gets to go to proper civilian court with a jury. If its a
military, kangaroo, secret, closed, court.... no way.

Yeah, I like the idea, I just cant see it working or having a viable chance.

Pity.

------
zwegner
Classic Greenwald on twitter:

"Anyone have interest in a criminal investigation to discover which
"officials" leaked news of the sealed indictment?
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-
cha...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-charges-
snowden-with-
espionage/2013/06/21/507497d8-dab1-11e2-a016-92547bf094cc_story.html) "

------
outside2344
I think we have to march on this one and be loud.

For San Francisco, we should show up in force somewhere - is Tuesday too soon
to plan something - say show up in force at Union Square at 8pm?

~~~
subway
The problem with marching in SF is nobody takes marches on SF seriously --
something is being protested daily.

~~~
fady
you made a good point, but you never know unless you try. i'm happy to take an
hour out of my time for this man.

~~~
subway
I'd much rather buy a plane ticket and head to participate in a large scale
event in Washington.

~~~
dllthomas
Parallel events in a few places, maybe? Requires a bigger turn-out, of
course...

~~~
coolhandluke
It seems that all of the "major" marches, gatherings, etc. in history have all
been events that took place in one location.

One that comes to mind is the Million Man March[0] on the National Mall in
1995. I'm not sure it would have had the same effects it did if it were 2,000
men here, 4,000 men here, and so on.

[0]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Million_Man_March](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Million_Man_March)

------
fragmede
Interestingly, according to that article, he _hasn 't_ been charged with
treason, 'just' espionage, theft and conversion of government property.
Someone more qualified than I can elaborate, but treason is a much harder
crime to prove than espionage (like murder vs. manslaughter).

Edit: According to the video link provided by spdy, the crime needs to exist
in both systems (ie Hong Kong and the US) in order for an extradition request
to be considered valid.

Treason, with a similar burden of proof, does not exist in Hong Kong, and thus
could not be charged.

Is the US attorney's office allowed to rescind the charges of espionage and
re-charge him with treason _after_ he's been extradited to the US?

~~~
wisty
Can you imagine a jury of 12 all believing that what he did was not in the
interests of his country?

~~~
mindstab
Sadly that's not how your legal system works any more. I don't have the link
handy but it came up here recently with that environmental activist who just
got out of jail for breaking up an illegal auction of land. He thought he'd be
fine but when the prosecution found that many of the jurors had received a
juror's rights pamphlet out lining the basic foundations of your country like
that jurys are supposed to be a social check on the laws and the social
conscience they threw a fit and they with the judge 1 by 1 interviewed
potential jury members and sent home anyone who wouldn't agree to follow the
judges orders and interpretations of the law and just vote to convict on
weather or not he broke the law, not weather the law was just or what he did
was for a greater good.

And so with a jury stacked against him (some may say against the original
spirit of your legal system) he ended up with years in jail. Mean while in the
course of trying to redo the auction they of course found that it was illegal
and didn't do it.

So he felt he'd saved the land and it was worth a few years of his life.

Snowden faces worse and again probably a fairly stacked jury if it were to
ever come to that. Tho they could also just indefinitely detain him nakedly in
a micro cell in solitary etc etc etc.

~~~
dllthomas
I think you're talking about
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_nullification](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_nullification)

~~~
jhart3333
This used to go by another name: it was called a jury.

------
charonn0
Why is he being charged in the Eastern District of Virginia when the alleged
crime was perpetrated in Hawaii? Shouldn't any prosecution be under the
original jurisdiction of the District of Hawaii/9th Circuit?

    
    
        Amendment VI
    
        In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy 
        and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein 
        the crime shall have been committed[...]

~~~
jdp23
From the article:

 _The complaint 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._

~~~
charonn0
Yes, I read that part. But the Sixth amendment says nothing about where the
defendant's employer is headquartered or the convenience of the prosecutors,
judges, etc.

To me, the choice of Virginia as the original jurisdiction is clearly
unconstitutional.

Also, Rule 18 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure states:

    
    
        Unless a statute or these rules permit otherwise, the government must 
        prosecute an offense in a district where the offense was committed.

~~~
dllthomas
It's quite possible a statute or those rules permit otherwise...

~~~
charonn0
Perhaps, but that still wouldn't address the problem of the sixth amendment.

~~~
dllthomas
Agreed.

------
surrealize
They charged him on his birthday? Damn, that's cold. After what the NSA did to
Thomas Drake (dragging him through legal hell for four years, which in the end
resulted in no jail time or fines), you have to wonder how personal some of
the legal maneuvering is.

------
mtgx
Time to take it to the streets on July 4th:

[http://www.reddit.com/r/restorethefourth](http://www.reddit.com/r/restorethefourth)

"Restore the Fourth is a non partisan group of concerned citizens working to
restore privacy and fourth amendment rights. We are planning nationwide
protests in over 100 locations on July 4th."

~~~
threeseed
I really wonder when people are actually going to wake up, understand how the
system works and spend their efforts lobbying politicians instead of
meaningless protests.

~~~
yolesaber
How does one lobby a politician, logistically speaking? Campaign donations?
Genuinely curious.

------
jsmeaton
Let's assume this charge is legal and correct for a moment. Why aren't the
newspapers (guardian and the post?) and their writers/editors also being
charged? Why aren't the newspapers having their paypal and all their bank
accounts frozen?

We live in very scary times as far as I'm concerned. The US is prosecuting its
own citizens for standing up and saying "what you're doing to the rest of the
world is not OK". But if you're a non-US citizen doing the same you just get
thrown in Gitmo.

There's outrage about what is being done domestically, but the rest of the
world seem to have no way of protesting. As an Australian I should be safe
from all of this - but our Government, no doubt, is piggy-backing on
everything the US is doing. No one is safe.

~~~
_delirium
W.r.t. why the _Guardian_ isn't also being charged: While the act of leaking
classified information is a crime, publishing classified information leaked to
you by someone else isn't a crime. Here's a law-review article discussing
that:
[https://www.law.upenn.edu/institutes/cerl/conferences/ethics...](https://www.law.upenn.edu/institutes/cerl/conferences/ethicsofsecrecy/papers/reading/Stone.pdf)

~~~
foobarqux
Except the government has recently taken the view that journalists are co-
conspirators and therefore criminals.

------
sevenatenine
The government obviously needs to set a precedent by charging Snowden. Even
though what the government is doing is controversial and many people support
Snowden, there might be somebody else down the line who thinks, "If Snowden
was able to do it, then I can too because I believe this thing I'm exposing is
wrong."

Of course, massive public outrage over what the NSA is doing could make it a
moot point and put the focus on the government. But like many things, this
isn't a one sided issue and many people are indifferent or support the NSA.
The media is asking "How should we feel about this?" and any white house
petition will likely get a weak answer reinforcing the government's decision.

------
aspensmonster
Espionage is punishable by death. I sincerely hope Snowden finds asylum
somewhere safe --Iceland perhaps-- as the Department of Justice has made it
perfectly clear that this patriot is no longer welcome here.

~~~
GabrielF00
The only civilians executed for espionage in the US were the Rosenbergs in
1953 and that is widely seen as an overreaction that occurred in the context
of the hysteria of the early Cold War. Only three people have been executed by
the Federal government for any crime since 1963. It is incredibly unlikely
that Snowden would be executed.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_by_the_Unite...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_by_the_United_States_federal_government)

~~~
rayiner
You see, when "slippery slope fallacy" mode is fully engaged, information like
that has no relevance. "They used it in 1953, they can do it again!"

~~~
nsns
Right, not to mention that US citizens have already been executed without
trial on foreign soil.

------
ausjke
I hope Hongkong will be protecting him, or he can live in Iceland peacefully
afterwards. He is doing that for all of us ordinary people in my opinion. This
is also extremely embarrassing for US gov and the president, who were blaming
Chinese for network attacks and acting as the innocent victim. I now doubt the
integrity of our leaders, they're simply liars in this regard, how can I trust
them in the future for whatever they're going to say.

------
mililani
More and more over the past several years, I've wondered what has become of
this country. I mean, in my 39 years of life in the U.S., I don't think there
was ever a time where I thought, this country has gone to the pits. And, not
only is it the the government, it's the U.S. Citizens. These people are
placated to the point that if you don't take away their celebrities and
entertainment, you could literally shit on their mothers and they probably
would just take it.

Pretty disturbing times we're living in.

~~~
mkhattab
I disagree. To "shit on their mothers" would actually motivate those who are
placated and apathetic to act and mobilize. In my mind, only very few persons
would take to the streets and sacrifice their livelihoods and personal
convenience for abstract ideas and principles. Case in point, Edward Snowden.

Until the effects of corruption has reached, in a literal sense, the doors of
most Americans, we might see citizens act and begin to stand for abstract
ideas such as privacy, due process, etc. But I think they would only continue
until it becomes most inconvenient for them.

I guess this is a cynical way of looking at people but maybe I'm not in a good
state of mind at the moment.

------
malandrew
Personally, I would want him to stand trial on two conditions:

(1) He and Glenn Greenwald are allowed to have an open, public televised
debate with President Obama, the congressmen that are members of the
intelligence committee, and the judges that sit on the FISC court. This would
be done in 3 sessions Frost/Nixon style.

(2) He is promised fair just treatment, that is made public so that he cannot
be subjected to solitary confinement and other torturous conditions.

~~~
genwin
He'd need to get low-cost bail. To the US gov't, fair treatment _is_ solitary
confinement, waterboarding, etc.

~~~
malandrew
Yeah, but as I said in another comment, it is common practice for certain
countries to only extradite someone in capital cases if the country requesting
extradition guarantees that they won't seek the death penalty. He could appeal
to Hong Kong to only allow extradition on the condition that solitary
confinement and other cruel and unusual punishments cannot be used.

------
hughw
"...said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they
were not authorized to speak about the case."

Leakers leaking about another leaker.

------
redthrowaway
The non-print, non-mobile version:

[http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-
cha...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-charges-
snowden-with-
espionage/2013/06/21/507497d8-dab1-11e2-a016-92547bf094cc_story.html)

This actually seems to be a pretty big problem with the web right now. We've
been balkanized into mobile and desktop versions of sites, to the point where
sharing one with the other inevitably pisses someone off. This article is all
but unreadable on desktop, and I suspect the same would be true in reverse.

The point of the web is to have multiple clients getting the same info from a
single source. This doesn't work if mobile and desktop clients are served
different versions of the same site, and in effect are barred from sharing
with eachother.

~~~
georgemcbay
I sort of agree with you... but then OTOH when it comes to virtually any
newspaper/media site I almost always prefer viewing the mobile version to the
"full site" (even when browsing on a traditional computer), because the mobile
versions tend to be less stuffed up with garbage ads, interstitials, social
networking buttons and other such shit-fuckery.

------
nullc
I suppose this certifies the authenticity of the released claims, for those
who have been continuing to deny it: If the documents weren't real he'd just
be a liar and lying in the media isn't generally a crime in the US.

------
jneal
Snowden is, and will forever be, a patriot in my eyes. Our government (in the
US) takes away more and more of our civil liberties and constitutional rights
with each passing day and I'm personally tired of it.

------
guelo
If Hong Kong grants the "provisional arrest warrant" it could mean that
Snowden will spend years fighting extradition from inside a jail cell. And it
could be the end of any hopes of asylum in Iceland.

~~~
jonlucc
Do we know that he's even still there? I know he said he'd be there, but I'm
not sure.

------
lazyjones
I suppose this makes it crystal-clear that in the eyes of Washington, the
people of the USA are the enemy. Now everything suddenly makes more sense.

------
peripetylabs
The Chinese authorities will hold him until they feel he has given them all he
knows, then quickly extradite him to the US.

At that point he will probably try to get to Europe. If he makes it, his
appeal to those governments on humanitarian grounds may be weakened by the
fact the first country he picked practices capital punishment far more than
the US (more than every other country in the world combined):

[http://www.amnesty.org/en/death-penalty/death-sentences-
and-...](http://www.amnesty.org/en/death-penalty/death-sentences-and-
executions-in-2012)

He could have fled to Europe in the first place just as easily. For example,
US citizens are exempt from visa requirements for short stays (90 days) in
France -- _la Patrie des droits de l 'homme_ \-- from where he would have had
direct access to the ECtHR...

~~~
sneak
[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/17/edward-
snowden-n...](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/17/edward-snowden-nsa-
files-whistleblower)

Snowden: "Leaving the US was an incredible risk, as NSA employees must declare
their foreign travel 30 days in advance and are monitored. There was a
distinct possibility I would be interdicted en route, so I had to travel with
no advance booking to a country with the cultural and legal framework to allow
me to work without being immediately detained. Hong Kong provided that.
Iceland could be pushed harder, quicker, before the public could have a chance
to make their feelings known, and I would not put that past the current US
administration."

He was not charged yet when he went to HK.

------
crazygringo
Can someone explain how he can be charged with espionage? Is there some
meaning of that which covers leakers of information, like leaking the Pentagon
Papers, when it's to the press (and not to another government or company)?

~~~
Tangaroa
Someone could, but the explanation is secret. Ironic, isn't it?

------
dschiptsov
Nothing to see here. Govt need to create a public process with a severe
penalty in order not to create a precedent.

The same type of prosecution as in Khodorkovsky or Pussy Riot cases in Russia
- to clearly signal to others - don't do it again, so govt will do everything
that is possible.

Sometimes I think that being a major in, say, English literature isn't that
useless as it seems to be.))

------
gesman
Charged with "conversion of government property" ? Meaning conversion to
something [finally] useful?

------
shire
This thing is moving fast should reach 100k before july 9 for sure.

[https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/pardon-edward-
snow...](https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/pardon-edward-
snowden/Dp03vGYD?at93)

------
belorn
> The anti-secrecy group Wikileaks has held some discussions ...

What is an anti-secrecy group? It sound like something out of Discworld
series, where a group is tired of being discovered changed the door sign from
"secret group" to "not-secret group". In the world of Discworld, it would
likely work too.

Is it so hard to write a group behind the _whistleblower_ website WikiLeaks,
or the more correct term: A group that runs a publishing website for
whistleblowers called WikiLeaks?

~~~
gohrt
WikiLeaks published many secrets that were not whistleblows. It's an anti-
secrecy site.

~~~
belorn
Source? What information has been published which isn't a whistleblow leak?
Bradley Manning isn't exactly charged with telling about someones secret
crush, or where they hide to smoke, or where that secret stash of weed is.

------
mehmehshoe
"The 30-year-old intelligence analyst revealed himself June 9 as the leaker in
an interview with the Guardian"

Happy birthday Ed!

------
RexRollman
Yes, because the most criminal thing you can do is reveal criminal activity by
the government.

------
rdouble
I have a feeling we're never going to see the rest of the data Greenwald
supposedly has.

~~~
brown9-2
Don't you think that maybe they leaked the most interesting stuff first? This
stuff has started to fall out of the news. It's past time to keep the story
going.

Perhaps there was a limit to the documents he was able to scavenge.

~~~
rdouble
If I could gamble on this topic, my bet would be that there isn't any more
interesting information. That said, I am interested in learning what the rest
of the information is, so I can make up my own mind about the issue.

~~~
LoganCale
Did you miss the new documents published yesterday? They've been all over HN
today, and they contradict most everything Obama and the NSA have been saying
for the past week.

~~~
rdouble
I didn't find them very revelatory. It just seems like typical CYA spook
paperwork. Regarding the government lying, I don't see how that is news,
either.

~~~
LoganCale
The government spent the last week trying to convince the public that they
never spy on U.S. citizens and do not store their data.

The documents are a direct authorization from the Attorney General for all the
ways in which they are allowed to do exactly that.

~~~
rdouble
Right, but why is that a surprise?

~~~
LoganCale
Because it's documented proof of their blatant lies to the public and to
Congress. If that's not something big to you, I doubt there are any documents
that can be released which will impress you.

~~~
rdouble
I'd like to see more documents detailing how the system works, and specific
instances of it being used to target american citizens. Something along the
lines of the information eventually turned up about the Fast and Furious
operation, or the Iran Contra affair. Right now it's just a powerpoint and a
signed letter.

------
paullik
The irony, Snowden being charged with espionage by the country that spies
everyone...

~~~
nthj
but

TERRORISM

and

NATIONAL SECURITY

------
jusben1369
They were always going to charge him if only to discourage future Snowden's.

------
sigzero
Not surprising at all really.

------
coldcode
Hmm perhaps he will meet a drone face to face and never face a trial.

------
bayesianhorse
You know spys... bunch of bitchy little girls...

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torito28
I highly doubt anything will happen to him. This is the same story over and
over again.

~~~
wavesounds
You're kidding right?
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_Manning#Detention](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_Manning#Detention)

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ericgoldberg
We created a pro-Snowden collection of shirts, stickers, and hats if you want
to show your support. There's a link to donate to his cause too.
[http://www.wishplz.com/product-
collections/bDRzO6c7Stw0vSVh2...](http://www.wishplz.com/product-
collections/bDRzO6c7Stw0vSVh2ITOwz8YqWQbHNGC)

~~~
lulzcraft
Someone is already profiting off this?

All proceeds should go to his defense team, Goldberg.

