"Edward Snowden is a criminal"<p>The Espionage Act of 1917 is a horrid piece of legislation, and the outsourcing of US government operations to private business means that contractors like Snowden can't use the same whistleblower protections that nominally would cover a government employee doing exactly the same act.<p>"We can’t have a deluge of people with privileged access thinking they can become the next super-patriot by leaking classified data."<p>Ha-ha-ha! Did you hear about how David Petraeus gave classified secrets to his mistress? Then lied to the FBI and others about it? But because he was a four star general, with the right contacts and money, he gets a misdemeanor charge.<p>So why not offer Snowden exactly the same deal as Petraeus - misdemeanor and two-year term of probation?