Editorial Board
Don't Pardon Edward Snowden
The NSA leaker did a public service. But he also did an immense amount of damage to U.S. security.
Who's spying on whom?
Photographer: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty ImagesThe movement to pardon NSA leaker Edward Snowden is picking up momentum, with human-rights groups, editorial boards, the Libertarian candidate for president and some former intelligence officers hopping on board. Even Eric Holder, the former attorney general, has said Snowden performed a “public service.”
But to show leniency for the man now enjoying Vladimir Putin's hospitality in Moscow would be to ignore the great damage he has done to U.S. national security. It would also set a bad precedent.