A few points. Snowden qualifies as a traitor, not a patriot or any kind of whistleblower. Once he left the U.S. with a parcel of classified documents, he crossed the line from possible innocent to criminal. Perhaps that wasn't his original intent, but that does not change what he became, a defector.
If Snowden left his parcel (steamer trunk, briefcase, manila envelope, whatever) unattended in Hong Kong, it's reasonable to assume the Chinese copied the contents.
Snowden has been in Russia for what, eight years? His hosts expected something in return. Years of concentrated debriefings about everything NSA and whatever else he knew, mostly about the U.S. intelligence community, I guess. More valuable than this archive. In fact, probably a treasure trove.
A few points. Snowden qualifies as a traitor, not a patriot or any kind of whistleblower. Once he left the U.S. with a parcel of classified documents, he crossed the line from possible innocent to criminal. Perhaps that wasn't his original intent, but that does not change what he became, a defector.
If Snowden left his parcel (steamer trunk, briefcase, manila envelope, whatever) unattended in Hong Kong, it's reasonable to assume the Chinese copied the contents.
Snowden has been in Russia for what, eight years? His hosts expected something in return. Years of concentrated debriefings about everything NSA and whatever else he knew, mostly about the U.S. intelligence community, I guess. More valuable than this archive. In fact, probably a treasure trove.