Judge rules Snowden book profits go to US government

A federal judge ruled that famous leaker Edward Snowden broke his nondisclosure agreements when he didn’t submit the manuscript of his new book for review, ordering the proceeds to be turned over to the United States government.

Judge Liam O’Grady’s 14-page ruling Tuesday was a win for the Justice Department, which sued Snowden over the book, Permanent Record. The DOJ also said the book publisher, Macmillan Publishing Group, should aid in recovering the money. Federal prosecutors also accused Snowden of displaying information marked as top secret at public events, including a TED conference, an internet security trade fair, and university lectures. The government wanted Snowden’s profits, which they considered ill-gotten gains in breach of contract, to be turned over to the U.S., and the judge agreed.

“He did not submit Permanent Recordfor prepublication review to either the CIA or NSA prior to these disclosures, and it was not approved for disclosure prior to publication,” O’Grady said when ruling in the government’s favor. “He never submitted any materials or slides to the CIA or NSA for prepublication review and never received written authority to make his public remarks or publish his slides."

Snowden, 36, worked at the CIA prior to a stint as a contractor for the National Security Agency. In 2013, he left his job at an NSA facility in Hawaii, flew to Hong Kong, and disclosed hundreds of thousands of classified NSA documents to journalists beginning the next month. Snowden revealed not just domestic surveillance programs but also exposed national security operations 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.

The DOJ filed a federal lawsuit against Snowden the day after the book was released in September.

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.”

The judge rejected Snowden’s legal arguments, stating that “there is no genuine dispute regarding the defendant’s breach of the contracts” and pointing to secrecy agreements Snowden signed with the CIA in 2005, 2006, and 2009, as well as similar agreements with the NSA in 2005, 2009, and 2013, which “required Snowden to acknowledge his position of special trust and confidence” and required that “Snowden forfeits any proceeds from disclosures that breach the agreements.”

O’Grady said, “The secrecy agreements are legally enforceable obligations because Snowden accepted employment and benefits conditioned upon prepublication review obligations, in consideration of access to classified materials.”

While promoting his book, Snowden compared himself to the Ukraine whistleblower, whose complaint sparked the impeachment proceedings which led to articles of impeachment being voted on by the House of Representatives this week. But the Ukraine whistleblower’s lawyer, Mark Zaid, said “there is nothing similar between Ed Snowden and this whistleblower.” He says his client followed the law and Snowden repeatedly broke it. Zaid says he has litigated more prepublication review challenges than anyone and is an expert in the field.

“The court’s decision was expected and based on well-established precedent. Snowden is neither a whistleblower nor protected by the First Amendment under these circumstances,” Zaid told the Washington Examiner. “He missed a golden opportunity to challenge the government’s classification decisions had he properly submitted his manuscript for review as was required. Instead, he followed his modus operandi of taking shortcuts and ignoring the law to suit his own personal interests."

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/judge-rules-snowden-book-profits-go-to-u-s-government