Feds seek to seize all profits from Snowden’s book over NDA violation

Enlarge / The US Government thanks Edward Snowden for the revenue stream with a filing in US court on September 17-the day his book hit shelves in the US. (credit: Henry Holt / Macmillan)

The US Department of Justice may never be able to prosecute Edward Snowden for his procurement and distribution of highly classified information from the network of the National Security Agency. But DOJ lawyers have found a way to reach out and touch his income-and that of Macmillan Publishers-by filing a civil suit today against them for publication of his book, Permanent Record.

The lawsuit, filed in the US Court for the District of Eastern Virginia, does not seek to stop publication or distribution of Permanent Record. Instead, as a DOJ spokesperson said in a press release, "under well-established Supreme Court precedent [in the case] Snepp v. United States, the government seeks to recover all proceeds earned by Snowden because of his failure to submit his publication for pre-publication review in violation of his alleged contractual and fiduciary obligations."

The suit-which also names Macmillan, its Henry Holt and Company imprint, and its parent company Holtzbrinck Publishers-claims Snowden was in violation of both CIA and NSA secrecy agreements he signed as terms of his employment. In the CIA Secrecy Agreements Snowden signed, he acknowledged that "Snowden was required to submit his material for prepublication review 'prior to discussing [the work] with or showing it to anyone who is not authorized to have access to' classified information," DOJ attorneys wrote in their filing. "Snowden was also required not to 'take any steps towards public disclosure until [he] received written permission to do so from the Central Intelligence Agency.'"

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