Judge rules Edward Snowden must pay government book proceeds

Dec. 18 (UPI) -- A judge on Wednesday ruled that former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden must pay the federal government proceeds from his new book after failing to get approval for its content as required by his employment contract.

Judge Liam O'Grady of the U.S. District Court in Eastern Virginia ruled Snowden violated a series of employment contracts he signed by failing to submit his book Permanent Record to the CIA and National Security Agency for review of classified content.

"Permanent Record contains information which both the CIA and NSA secrecy agreements obligated Snowden to submit for pre-publication review," O'Grady said.

O'Grady said all three agreements in question required Snowden to protect information and material that he had knowledge of from unauthorized disclosure and required him to submit any writings or other presentations he prepared related to intelligence data or protected information for review.

Snowden's legal team said the government had breached the secrecy agreements "by indicating it would refuse to review Snowden's materials in good faith and within a reasonable time," but O'Grady rejected this argument.

The ruling on Wednesday did not detail how much Snowden should have to pay the government, but the Justice Department has previously said it seeks to recover "all proceeds earned by Snowden."

Snowden currently lives in Russia after being charged under the Espionage Act for leaking classified documents about the U.S. government's mass collection of emails, phone calls and Internet activity in the name of national security surveillance in June 2013.