My must read of the day is "Make a deal with Snowden," by Richard Cohen in the Washington Post:
Now I, too, must open myself up to vilification. I have already written that Snowden is not much of a traitor. He hardly fits the category — Benedict Arnold, Julius Rosenberg (I hesitate when it comes to his wife, Ethel) or, more recently, Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen. My list is not nearly complete, but to add Snowden to it would create a mismatch, one of those tests in which you are asked to find the example that does not fit the category. No matter. The epithet "traitor" has been hurled at Snowden by a host of honorables — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Speaker John Boehner, Rep. Peter King and that emeritus one from administrations past, Dick Cheney.
It remains somewhat possible that Snowden did serious harm to the United States. However, I have heard such claims all my career — from the Pentagon Papers onward — and yet, somehow, the country staggers on. Whatever the case, harm was apparently not Snowden’s intention. He seemed intent only on alerting us to the extent of government eavesdropping. In this sense, Snowden did good. […]
Snowden is something new under the sun. He defies categorization. He is not a spy and not a conventional traitor. The old remedies and punishments do not fit. Some sort of deal should be made — reduced jail time in exchange for his cooperation. A deal would be to our advantage. The United States would get back Snowden as well as his information (apparently it’s still not clear what he took) — and he would get back some of his life.
First, no one truly knows Edward Snowden’s intentions.
What I know is that what Snowden did and is doing is not at all comparable to the Pentagon Papers. He is no Daniel Ellsberg. He has gone to other nations, potentially sharing the information he stole, and has publicly offered to assist foreign governments investigating U.S. spying.
He has released far more information than was necessary to ensure privacy and security of Americans civil liberties. He has released documents that show the NSA is involved in the drone program, specifically playing a role in killing an associate of Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. He released detailed accounts of the programs agencies use to collect intelligence.
Snowden is a traitor. You may think he released information for the greater good of the public, but all of his actions, by definition, make him a traitor. No deal for him.