And here is Clinton again in the same vein in a July 4, 2014 interview with The Guardian about holding Snowden "accountable": "If he [Snowden] wishes to return knowing he would be held accountable and also able to present a defense, that is his decision to make...Whether he chooses to return or not is up to him. He certainly can stay in Russia apparently under Putin's protection for the rest of his life if that's what he chooses, But if he is serious about engaging in the debate then he could take the opportunity to come back and have that debate."
Clinton talks as if there is some sort of Oxford Union mechanism whereby defenders and opponents of the national security state sit together on a stage exchanging deep thoughts about major issues of the day before a well-informed audience. As many Snowden supporters have pointed out, the "debate" Edward Snowden would face the minute he hits U.S. shores would be to be shackled and put in solitary confinement -- like Chelsea Manning -- far out of the reach of any press interviews or would-be fellow debaters. He would engage in the same sort of "debate" Manning engaged in under espionage law which barred her or any defendant from mounting any sort of public-interest defense as to why they did what they did.
Clinton and others who recommend the "channels" route also need to be reminded that Daniel Ellsberg four-plus decades ago went to influential, antiwar members of the Senate, J. William Fulbright (D-Arkansas) and George McGovern (D-South Dakota) with the Pentagon Papers before he released them to The New York Times and other newspapers, but they rebuffed him.
In more recent times, in the early 2000s CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling went to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence with his concerns over a CIA scheme (Operation Merlin) to provide flawed nuclear weapons blueprints to Iran. Sterling was not only rebuffed, but as his recent trial illustrated (and Sterling did not know at the time) the committee was already aware of this program and did nothing with his allegations.
Sterling was subsequently investigated by the government for allegedly providing information about Operation Merlin to New York Times reporter James Risen -- charges Sterling denies to this day. For his troubles in "going through channels," he became a main suspect in the disclosure to Risen, was hounded for years, was indicted and finally this past January convicted of espionage and other charges. Sterling has begun serving a 42-month prison term as he pursues an appeal.
SANDERS, CHAFEE FAVOR LENIENCY FOR SNOWDEN
Among the small pool of other announced Democratic candidates, long-shot Democrat Lincoln Chafee (a former Republican senator and former independent governor of Rhode Island) and independent socialist Bernie Sanders, running as a Democrat, are calling for some sort of leniency -- Sanders calls it "clemency" -- that would allow Snowden to come back to the United States and apparently not face a prison term.
A year before announcing his presidential run, Sanders called for leniency for Snowden, but at the same time felt it necessary to gratuitously add that Snowden "violated an oath and committed a crime," without acknowledging that the duty to uphold the U.S. Constitution should trump any oath of secrecy.
In an early 2014 statement to the Burlington (Vermont) Free Press, Sanders said: "The information disclosed by Edward Snowden has been extremely important in allowing Congress and the American people to understand the degree to which the NSA has abused its authority and violated our constitutional rights.
"On the other hand, there is no debate that Mr. Snowden violated an oath and committed a crime.
"In my view, the interests of justice would be best served if our government granted him some form of clemency or a plea agreement that would spare him a long prison sentence or permanent exile from the country whose freedoms he cared enough about to risk his own freedom."
In announcing his Democratic presidential candidacy in June 2015, Chafee also offered a much friendlier attitude than Clinton toward the world's most famous modern-day whistleblower, calling for Snowden to be allowed to come back to the United States without apparently facing a prison term.
"I want America to be a leader and inspiration for civilized behavior in this new century," Chafee said at his campaign kick-off. "We will abide by the Geneva conventions, which means we will not torture prisoners...Our sacred Constitution requires a warrant before unreasonable searches, which include our phone records. Let's enforce that and while we're at it, allow Edward Snowden to come home." Notably, unlike Clinton who as a senator voted for the Iraq war resolution, Chafee was one of only 23 senators -- and the lone Republican senator -- to vote against it.
Democratic presidential candidate and former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley has called for more restrictions on NSA surveillance than was provided for in the recently passed USA Freedom Act, including as he said recently "having a role for a public advocate in the FISA court." However, he made no mention of Snowden in his statement.
RAND PAUL THANKS SNOWDEN, BUT WOULD SEND HIM TO PRISON
On the crowded Republican presidential side, libertarian Kentucky Senator Rand Paul has expressed gratitude for Snowden's disclosures, but still envisions a prison term -- albeit apparently a lenient one -- for the whistleblower, even as most other Republican candidates who have taken a position are calling for Snowden's head as a criminal and a traitor.
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