Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder speaks at the Justice Department in Washington in March 2015. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Edward Snowden performed a “public service” by stoking a national debate about secret domestic surveillance programs when he released top-secret national security information, but he should still return to the U.S. to stand trial, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a podcast released on Monday.
As a National Security Agency contractor, Snowden leaked classified details in 2013 of the U.S. government’s warrantless surveillance techniques aimed at detecting potential terrorist threats before fleeing the country and making his way to Moscow via China. He now lives in Russia and faces U.S. charges that could land him in prison for up to 30 years.
In a podcast interview with CNN political commentator David Axelrod, a former top political adviser to President Barack Obama, Holder said that Snowden had grown concerned that the domestic spying programs weren’t providing a “substantial” return of useful intelligence even before even before he revealed the secrets. Holder, who served as attorney general from 2009 to 2015, didn’t say how he knew what Snowden was supposedly concerned about before taking the actions he did.
“We can certainly argue about the way in which Snowden did what he did, but I think that he actually performed a public service by raising the debate we engaged in and by the changes that we made,” Holder said. “Now, I would say doing what he did in the way he did it was inappropriate and illegal.”
Holder said Snowden’s leaks harmed American interests abroad and put intelligence assets at risk.
“He’s got to make a decision,” Holder said of Snowden. “He’s broken the law. In my view, he needs to get lawyers, come on back and decide what he wants to do — go to trial, try to cut a deal.”
He said Snowden should have to face the consequences for his actions, including prison time.
“But in deciding what an appropriate sentence should be, a judge could take into account the usefulness of having that national debate,” Holder added.
Snowden has repeatedly said he would be willing to return to the United States if the federal government would provide him a fair trial. However, Snowden says he is concerned that under federal espionage laws he would not be permitted to present a whistleblower defense, arguing in court he acted in the public interest.
Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder speaks at the Justice Department in Washington in March 2015. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) 
