Hello? Stealing classified information is a crime. Being critical of the government is not.

When the government behaves worse than a criminal, it is only heroic to expose its crimes. Especially heroic when you know it's a violent, arrogant and vindicative government.

I don’t disagree, but Snowden and Assange’s legal issues are due to criminal acts, not because of political speech.

You can certainly create justification around those criminal acts being for the greater good, but that doesn’t mean that they are no longer criminal acts.