In light of SN 448 and the topic of Edward Snowden leaks and the NYT piece over the NSA hacking H...

[G+_Mark Little]

In light of SN 448 and the topic of Edward Snowden leaks and the NYT piece over the NSA hacking Huawei, it's worth pointing out just how the entire leak process works. From Greenwald himself, over at The Intercept and specifically to this point (Leo Laporte Steve Gibson):

 

"(2) Publication of an NSA story constitutes an editorial judgment by the media outlet that the information should be public. By publishing yesterday’s Huawei story, the NYT obviously made the editorial judgment that these revelations are both newsworthy and in the public interest, should be disclosed, and will not unduly harm “American national security.” For reasons I explain below, I agree with that choice. But if you disagree – if you want to argue that this (or any other) NSA story is reckless, dangerous, treasonous or whatever – then have the courage to take it up with the people who reached the opposite conclusion: in this case, the editors and reporters of the NYT (indeed, as former DOJ official Jack Goldsmith observed, the NYT‘s Huawei story was “based on leaks other than the Snowden documents”). In most other cases where critics claim reckless disclosures, the decision to publish was made by the Washington Post. The judgment to which you’re objecting – that this information should be made public – was one made by those newspapers, not by Edward Snowden."

 

As the facts stand -- and I have no real reason to doubt Greenwald's veracity here -- the New York Times bares responsibility for the story, not necessarily Snowden directly (and I encourage everyone to read the full piece before commenting).

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/03/23/facts-nsa-stories-reported