Glenn Greenwald, one of the reporters who broke the NSA story, says that Snowden was very careful about what he leaked and that he wanted reporters to be judicious as well, to ensure that he didn't hurt American interests.
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What was Edward Snowden, who leaked the news of the NSA’s vast collection of phone records and computer data, thinking? The 29-year-old computer technician popped up in Hong Kong and then went underground.
Wednesday, Snowden resurfaced in an interview with the English language newspaper the South China Morning Post.
Meanwhile, the story continues to unfold. NSA director Keith Alexander testified in front of Congress. Senator Ron Wyden questioned the answer he received from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper in March 12 testimony under oath. And New York Rep. Peter King, echoing the comments he made when Bradley Manning turned over diplomatic cables to Wikileaks, began calling for action to be taken against The Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald, one of the reporters who broke the NSA story with the help of Snowden.
Glenn Greenwald appeared on All In with Chris Hayes on Wednesday and stressed Snowden’s dedication to what he perceived as valid information:
“[Snowden] was emphatic about the fact that he was not turning over to us all of the documents he could get his hands on. He had very carefully spent months looking at them, examining them, figuring out which ones the public should see, and said he wasn’t going to turn those over. He then, when he gave it to us, said, I don’t want you to dump these documents, I want you to engage in a rigorous standard, journalistic assessment of what is in the public interest and what would cause harm. I want you to be very careful and judicious about figuring out what it is that the public should know in terms of how journalism functions. He didn’t want the accusation to be made, validly, that he was trying to harm the United States.”
