Snowden should have sought whistleblower protection status instead of disclosing secrets to the media. That makes him a criminal under U.S. law.
However, one can understand why Snowden would not trust the government he was exposing to protect him as a whistleblower. I think he decided to take his case straight to the American people and let the chips fall where they may.
Snowden’s actions were criminal under the law and professionally unethical in his line of work, but I’m not sure his actions were immoral. If his motivation was solely to expose government corruption and abuse of power, then I think he acted morally. If he intends to benefit personally from exposing the same, then I think he acted immorally.
I need to see where this goes before I put any labels on Snowden.
If I were Snowden I wouldn’t have trusted a single soul in govt OR the US media. Going to the Brit (left wing) press was probably the only feasible option. If he’d gone to someone in the govt he could have been made ‘disappeared’ without a trace and no one the wiser.