Edward Snowden Publishes Memoir "Permanent Record"; DOJ Immediately Sues for Proceeds

Edward Snowden published his memoir “Permanent Record” on September 17, 2019 (Constitution Day), through Metropolitan Books, an imprint of Henry Holt and Company. The book provided Snowden’s first-person account of his life, his work in the intelligence community, his decision to leak classified NSA documents, and his subsequent exile in Russia. Within hours of the book’s release, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil lawsuit seeking to seize all proceeds from the memoir.

The DOJ lawsuit alleged that Snowden violated nondisclosure agreements he had signed with the CIA and NSA by publishing the manuscript without submitting it for pre-publication review, a standard requirement for current and former intelligence community employees. The government’s complaint did not seek to suppress the book’s content or prevent its distribution—acknowledging First Amendment protections—but instead argued that Snowden should not be permitted to profit from disclosing classified information. The lawsuit requested that all royalties and speaking fees be placed in a constructive trust for the U.S. government.

The timing of the lawsuit, filed on the same day as publication, appeared designed to send a chilling message to potential whistleblowers and to punish Snowden despite his physical location beyond U.S. jurisdiction. Civil liberties advocates, including the ACLU, argued the lawsuit was vindictive and represented an attempt to silence critics of government surveillance through financial punishment. They noted that the government routinely permitted favorable memoirs by intelligence officials without requiring pre-publication review or suing for proceeds.

In October 2020, a federal court ruled in the government’s favor, ordering Snowden to forfeit more than $5.2 million in book proceeds and speaking fees, with the court imposing a constructive trust on all future earnings from the memoir and 56 specified speeches. Despite the bestselling success of “Permanent Record,” which topped charts worldwide and was translated into numerous languages, Snowden would not be permitted to keep any financial benefit. The book provided unprecedented insight into the NSA’s surveillance apparatus and Snowden’s motivations, humanizing a figure who had been either demonized or lionized but rarely understood. The lawsuit underscored the government’s determination to punish Snowden through any available means, even as the surveillance reforms he inspired—including the USA FREEDOM Act—became law.