All the things that Snowden might be are not mutually exclusive.
Which kills any credibility he has to me. Is the cost of what he's selling out worth what he revealed to us?
The PRC already knew we were hammering them. As they hammer us. If Snowden "revealed nothing not already known to people who followed the PATRIOT ACT debates," (as some folk argue) the same applies to his "revelation" that we snoop at the PRC.
So, what is the cost of revealing data already in the wild? Realistically, some folk who assumed (mistakenly) that US gov't did not go after PRC net targets have been butthurt.
As to how we snoop...again, the PATRIOT ACT debate was informative. Just cut out all the BS happy-talk about requiring any sort of oversight or respect for the COTUS. Plus, all the foreign traffic running through the net backbone located CONUS. While the hardware requirements and implementation for this sort of thing are impressive and daunting, how it is being done is not so crazy sophisticated that a sharp chinaman couldn't suss it out.
Those are the countries who don't much care for extradition treaties. And if he expects to take refuge in some of those places, you can be damn sure a bit of treason will be the entry fee.
Most decent countries have extradition treaties with the USA. That leaves the indecent countries.
Snowden's utility at this point is little more than as a symbol and a thumb in the eye of Uncle Sam.
Were he to have been compromised and kept working at NSA, he could have done some real damage. He might have been able to do damage in the few days/hours when gov't still did not know it was him. The moment he opened his mouth to the Guardian, his value as a hard intel asset to a foreign power went "poof." Remember: "Tier 1 Help Desk," not "inner circle planning operations."
Still, it is possible he managed to smuggle something useful out of the NSA and he means to exchange that for a safe haven. He could be whistleblower
and criminal
and traitor. They all push up against some mighty thin lines.
Poll