When confidential information was leaked from the National Security Agency (NSA) by 29-year-old Edward Snowden, the public didn’t know what to think; there was confusion as to whether this was a heroic deed or a dangerous betrayal.

In May, Snowden shocked the world by providing proof that the U.S. government is overseeing its citizens’ personal phone calls, e-mails and internet searches without their consent. This alarmed many Americans who feel the government overstepped legal boundaries. After releasing these documents to The Guardian and Washington Post newspapers and facing charges of espionage, Snowden fled to Hong Kong, and later Moscow, where he currently resides under political asylum. In late August, The Guardian and Washington Post published the “Black Budget,” a collection of documents describing the distribution of funds to the agencies that make up the National Intelligence Program. These confidential pieces of information are now available to anyone, including foreigners, and can possibly be used against U.S. interests.

Although enraged with the leaks, the Obama administration claims that there were more appropriate ways to release the aforementioned information. These claims can easily be dismissed, however, since there were actually no legal paths Snowden could pursue. President Obama passed a Presidential Policy Directive last October extending whistleblower protections to intelligence employees. This wouldn’t have applied to Snowden, since it clearly emphasized “Protecting national security information,” which Obama feels he didn’t.

By directly releasing the secret programs to newspapers, Snowden is undoubtedly a criminal. Although the information benefited the public, Snowden violated his oath of secrecy to the NSA by deliberately releasing sensitive documents to newspapers; he deserves to be prosecuted. Snowden’s departure to China and Russia leads some to believe that he is a coward. He would’ve been more of a hero by acknowledging that he committed a crime and accepting the forthcoming punishment because it shows that Americans’ liberties are worthy of protecting, no matter the cost.

Still, the newspapers who published the information are not at fault. The role of the press in a healthy democracy is to inform the public about what is going on in the world; with a free press in the United States journalists are supposed to uncover government abuses for the public to see. The press has been changing how the public views the government for decades – from The New York Times publishing the Pentagon Papers to The Washington Post exposing the Watergate Scandal – and The Guardian and The Washington Post’s actions are just another example.