U.S. Charges Edward Snowden with Espionage and Theft of Government Property

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a sealed criminal complaint against Edward Snowden on June 14, 2013, charging him with three felonies: unauthorized communication of national defense information, willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorized person (both violations of the Espionage Act of 1917), and theft of government property. The complaint was unsealed one week later on June 21, 2013.

The specific charges were violations of 18 U.S.C. § 793(d) (Unauthorized Disclosure of National Defense Information), 18 U.S.C. § 798(a)(3) (Unauthorized Disclosure of Classified Communication Intelligence), and 18 U.S.C. § 641 (Theft of Government Property). Each charge carried a maximum sentence of ten years in prison. The complaint was filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, where Snowden’s former employer, government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, was headquartered.

A warrant was issued for Snowden’s arrest on the same day as the charges were filed. The use of the Espionage Act—a World War I-era law originally designed to prosecute spies, not whistleblowers or journalists—marked a significant escalation in the Obama administration’s aggressive crackdown on leakers. The Espionage Act does not distinguish between leaking to foreign adversaries and leaking to the press, nor does it allow defendants to argue that their disclosures served the public interest.

The charges effectively foreclosed any possibility of Snowden returning to the United States for a trial, as the Espionage Act’s strict liability provisions would prevent him from mounting a meaningful defense based on whistleblower protections or the public value of his revelations. Civil liberties advocates and legal scholars criticized the use of the Espionage Act, arguing it criminalized legitimate whistleblowing and threatened press freedom.