Edward Snowden, who leaked highly classified information and fled the United States in 2013, compared himself to the Ukraine whistleblower while promoting his new book.
But the lawyer for the whistleblower whose report sparked impeachment proceedings said Snowden is wrong.
“There is nothing similar between Ed Snowden and this whistleblower,” Ukraine whistleblower attorney Mark Zaid told the Washington Examiner. “In order to be a protected whistleblower under law, you need to follow the lawful procedures. Snowden never even tried to follow the law. What he did in releasing classified information without authorization is illegal and, as a matter of law, he can never be considered a whistleblower.”
Snowden, 36, worked at the CIA prior to a stint as a contractor for the National Security Agency. He left his job at an NSA facility in Hawaii, flew to Hong Kong in May 2013, and disclosed hundreds of thousands of classified NSA documents to journalists beginning in June 2013. Snowden’s disclosures revealed not just domestic surveillance programs but also exposed national security operations being carried out around the world by the U.S. and its allies. Snowden, who was granted asylum by Russia and lives in Moscow, was charged with violating the Espionage Act.
“These cases could not be more different. They are night and day. This current case supports the notion that the system can work, and the Snowden saga shows the negative repercussions that can come from not following the law,” Zaid said.
Snowden’s defenders have pointed to roadblocks faced by the Ukraine whistleblower and harsh criticism by President Trump as justification for Snowden’s decision to flee and leak. Snowden has retweeted or promoted more than a dozen tweets and articles defending his actions in light of the Ukraine whistleblower, most claiming the Ukraine whistleblower proved him right.
After Trump called the Ukraine whistleblower a “#FakeWhistleblower,” Snowden weighed in.
“Can you believe that the president will criticize you for exposing their wrongdoing whether or not you ‘followed proper channels,’” he tweeted. “I mean gosh it’s almost as if their concern was never about the law so much as suppressing credible reports of unethical activities can you imagine.”
can you believe that the president will criticize you for exposing their wrongdoing whether or not you “followed proper channels”
i mean gosh it’s almost as if their concern was never about the law so much as suppressing credible reports of unethical activities can you imagine
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) September 30, 2019
But Zaid rejected the notion that Snowden was justified in breaking the law, saying his Ukraine client succeeded in getting information out despite White House resistance.
“The whistleblower system worked very well in this case. Here you have the director of national intelligence and the Intelligence Community inspector general — both Trump appointees — on record, in writing, and under oath before Congress stating how the whistleblower followed all the rules properly, and their complaint was ultimately provided to the oversight committees and the public,” Zaid said.
Zaid also criticized former Army soldier Chelsea Manning’s leaks to WikiLeaks and former intelligence specialist Reality Winner’s leaks to the Intercept.
The DOJ filed a federal lawsuit against Snowden the day after his book Permanent Record was released in September, claiming it put him “in violation of the non-disclosure agreements he signed with both CIA and NSA” and stating that “the government seeks to recover all proceeds earned by Snowden because of his failure to submit his publication for pre-publication review.”
Snowden tweeted that “the government sued the publisher of #Permanent Record for — not kidding — printing it without giving the CIA and NSA a change to erase details of their classified crimes from the manuscript.”
But Zaid said Snowden broke the rules and missed an opportunity to demonstrate he was genuine and concerned about protecting the national security of the U.S.
Submitting the book for pre-publication review could’ve forestalled the civil lawsuit, he said, and been favorable in Snowden’s criminal case.
“If he had gone to an experienced attorney who could have guided him through the path the way this whistleblower did, the entire outcome might have ended differently, and Snowden might be living in suburban Maryland at this moment touting his book, but he chose a totally different path that was unnecessary and clearly unlawful,” said Zaid.
The Ukraine whistleblower is believed to have a connection to former Vice President Joe Biden and Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff has been criticized for not disclosing his Intelligence Committee staff’s prior contact with the whistleblower.
Trump asked for a “favor” from Ukraine during a July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in investigating a conspiracy theory related to the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which determined the Russians hacked the DNC’s email systems, an assessment special counsel Robert Mueller agreed with. Trump also urged the Ukrainian leader to look into any Ukrainian involvement in the 2016 election and talked about “the other thing,” suggesting the Ukrainians investigate allegations of corruption related to Joe and Hunter Biden. Trump urged Zelensky to speak with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr, but the DOJ made it clear that Barr wasn’t associated with the effort.
