Edward Snowden Says Government Has Made 'Telling' Truth Greater Crime Than 'Selling' It

Former National Security Agency employee and whistleblower Edward Snowden, who was charged with leaking classified information by the CIA, on Tuesday took to Twitter to rue the kind of treatment meted out to people who bring to light fraudulent/unethical/illegal activities.

Snowden was voicing his support for Reality Winner, a former Air Force member and intelligence specialist who was charged with espionage in 2018 and given the longest-ever imposed prison sentence for leaking government information to the media. Incidentally, she had leaked an intelligence report about Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. elections.

Using the hashtag "#PardonRealityWinner," Snowden said in an attached text that former Pentagon employee Gregg Bergersen, who was convicted of selling secrets to the Chinese in 2008, got a sentence six months shorter than what Reality Winner received. He was found in FBI surveillance with his pocket stuffed with cash, the former spy said.

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Snowden also noted that former Army General and CIA Director David Petraeus, who shared top secret information with his mistress — an author, was charged just for mishandling of classified information and never spent jail term.

The whistleblower, who was granted asylum by Russia in 2013, suggested that whistleblowers are sentenced to more time in prison than “corrupt officials who trade secrets for sex — more time than even actual spies.”

“The government has made *telling* the truth a greater crime than *selling* it,” Snowden said.