How Edward J. Snowden Orchestrated a Blockbuster Story

Between the lines it seems the NYT is somewhat jealous Snowden did not come to it with his materials (when the news broke they quoted &quot;a British newspaper&quot; instead of mentioning The Guardian by name!).<p>But they do make a good point: the scope and reach of the post 9&#x2F;11 intelligence apparatus does not only mean it tends to overreach, it also means it employs too many people, some of them potential whistle-blowers.

I don&#x27;t get it. If it he can do this, why can&#x27;t someone else do the same thing? Why can&#x27;t people register _that_ part of the story?<p>Anyone who has ever seen the show 24 can see that for every amazing tool we have to spy on Americans, there is some double-spy working within the agency using the very same tool against the government&#x27;s own interest. This is exactly what is happening.<p>We built something we can&#x27;t control. That&#x27;s the story.

&gt;Mr. Snowden has now turned over archives of “thousands” of documents, according to Mr. Greenwald, and “dozens” are newsworthy.<p>And now we all have to wait until <i>The Guardian</i> is finished analyzing everything, covering its ass while making sure to take in a maximum amount of profits.<p>That&#x27;s an issue I haven&#x27;t heard people complain about yet. Why not make everything public? The information is getting combed... <i>again</i>!

&gt; … Mr. Snowden later sent him a homemade video with step-by-step instructions for installing [encryption software], which Mr. Greenwald watched but never completed… In late April or early May, he and Mr. Snowden began to talk over an encrypted chat program.<p>What &quot;encrypted chat program&quot; they could possibly use?

The Rubik&#x27;s Cube was a nice touch. I remember when I was inseparable from mine. (Averaged 50 seconds. Not world-class, I know, but not terrible for a 12-year-old.)