Because no criminal charge that rests solely upon openly publishing facts would ever stand up against the 1st Amendment. Before any cleared individual ever tou

Because no criminal charge that rests solely upon openly publishing facts would ever stand up against the 1st Amendment. Before any cleared individual ever touches or sees classified materials, they sign an NDA that establishes personal responsibility for protecting classified material. This is separate and distinct from the criminal espionage and treason consequences, but they do their best to make you think they are closely tied with the training materials. As it happens, openly publishing as a protected right is hugely different from the criminal act of selling or gifting secrets to a foreign adversary, so a civil suit is all they can do. And given that it is a civil suit, Snowden would have a reasonable shot at an "unclean hands" defense, if the judges were truly impartial and objective.