Eric Holder in Forbes Magazine

On Homeland Security: Snowden did us all a favor by leaking documents

Now, Holder did not do a 180 on Snowden. He said that the massive leak of NSA documents had compromised US security for a time. And he said that Snowden should return to the United States and face charges. Then he could argue that the public service he performed should mitigate his legal transgressions.

Legally speaking, this position isn't any different from where everybody-- including Snowden himself--has been for a while. They differ, of course, on the details. The Justice Department (and entire intelligence community) would like to see Snowden serve a long sentence under harsh conditions.