It's no mere coincidence that a new Oliver Stone movie lionizing Edward Snowden is hitting the screens just as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the ACLU are buying full-page ads urging President Barack Obama to pardon the former National Security Agency leaker.

Whatever pangs of compassion Obama might be feeling in his waning days as commander in chief, his better judgment must prevail. A pardon of Snowden would be a mistake of gigantic proportions.

This newspaper has previously stated that Snowden's heroism might outweigh the treasonous acts he committed by stealing an estimated 58,000 documents from NSA computers and handing them over unfiltered for journalists to publish as they saw fit. Sure, let him come home from his self-exile in Russia. And prosecute him.

Snowden's supporters assert he is a whistleblower who exposed U.S. government spying abuses against its citizens and allies. Unethical as the abuses were, none of the data revealed illegality. Snowden was blowing a dog whistle.

Snowden gained access to some of the government's most sensitive secrets by obtaining a security clearance, which included a pledge never to reveal classified information. There was no fine-print subparagraph buried deep within his employment agreement that stipulated permission to reveal secrets to the news media if he disagreed with U.S. policy. The theft of secret information is a crime, regardless of the justification.

If Snowden believed the law was being broken, the only responsible action would be to alert internal investigators. Instead, he stole massive amounts of secrets and dumped all the data on journalists, leaving it to them to sift out what was important and what deserved to be kept from public view.

Snowden revealed U.S. intelligence assets and methods, potentially aided America's enemies and put lives in danger. He acknowledged in a 2015 HBO interview with comedian John Oliver that he knew release of this information could be harmful. He did it anyway. Regardless of motive, Snowden is not above the law and must answer for treason and the unauthorized distribution of classified information.

A presidential pardon would send an anything-goes signal to others with secret clearances and an axe to grind. America's intelligence community would rise up in revolt.

NSA abuses came under the guise of keeping the nation safe from terrorists, foreign spies, hackers and saboteurs. We all must accept that, loathsome as it is to know that our government is spying on our emails, phone calls and internet traffic, it's even more loathsome to imagine our government letting down its guard, declaring a no-spy rule, and giving the enemy free rein, all for the sake of protecting privacy.

"There are no easy answers here," Oliver stated. "We all, naturally, want perfect privacy — and perfect safety. But those two things cannot coexist."

REPRINTED FROM THE ST LOUIS POST DISPATCH