I had not really looked into his behavior, until I found this article. He had appeared as a whistleblower when he first made news headlines. However, after further examination, he does not appear to have behaved as a legitimate whistleblower. He took a vast quantity of NSA secrets, 1,5 million documents, about a vast number of topics, including military strategy and troop movements. The media was given access to the NSA spying program, but he gave the more important security and military information to the Russian, the Chinese, or whoever else. A legitimate whistleblower would go to Congress and the media, proclaim his love for his country, and face the music. A legitimate whistleblower does not expose military and security secrets to foreign powers, that could use those secrets to harm the nation.
Why would he do this?
There are many reasons: hatred of the government; misguided idealism; a desire to take some twisted revenge on the nation because of some imagined wrong; perhaps a desire to create chaos: or perhaps it is the long-term plan of some secretive agency to create a balance of power in some long awaited conflict.
Whatever his reason, he has done harm to the nation. The US government is looking for him, and hoping to find him. If they ever catch up to him, a speedy trial and a noose around the neck will be his just award.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-fable-of-edward-snowden-1483143143
