Edward Snowden did ‘public service’ but he should still be punished, says former US attorney general Holder

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden performed a “public service” in stoking a debate about secret domestic surveillance programmes, but he should still return to the US to stand trial, former 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 of its citizens before fleeing the country. He now lives in Russia and faces US charges that could land him in prison for up to 30 years.

In a podcast interview with CNN political commentator David Axelrod, Holder said that Snowden had grown concerned that the domestic spying programmes weren’t providing a “substantial” return of useful intelligence even before even before he revealed the secrets.

Axelrod is a former senior adviser to US President Barack Obama, while Holder served as attorney general from 2009 to 2015.

“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.