I think I'd like Rev's take on this, before making any conclusions
IF his threats are real, sounds like he has the gooberment by the short hairs
Lotta options.
NSA may have an list of where all Americans live and a list of all government employees from the IRS or Social Security. You'd just need to cross reference the two. It would be trivial for the NSA to do so if they wanted. I'm not sure why they would want to do so. It's possible, plausible even. But it's a toss up if whether it's true or a bluff.
The NSA collects blackmail on folks. See Qwest CEO. It's unlikely the Snowden has it. It'd be criminally insane to keep that information in electronic format and connected to any network, even an air gapped one. Basically, pulling a Hoover, who historically came closest to becoming an American Stasi. There's a good reason why the FBI director is limited to one ten-year term.
Snowden snagged a lot of material. And he's been selective in what he released. It is suggestive that the NSA is/was divided over offering an amnesty deal in exchange for silence. Apparently the WH shot that down. The NSA wouldn't have remotely considered amnesty if they didn't believe that he had some bombshells left in the arsenal. So... at a minimum, the NSA believes he has plenty of goodies.
There's ways to handle deadman's switch. Smartest would be a split key. Auto-release if he dies, but a second party that would need to manually release only if it looks like the US pulled the trigger. *shrug* It'd all depend on how much game theory the dude has.
