Are Other NSA Employees Leaking Documents Under The Cover Of Snowden?

While we were just suggesting that there are ways that NSA employees who believe the organization has gone too far can make a difference without also leaking documents, some are beginning to suspect that Snowden’s activities may be creating at least some copycats — and the interesting tidbit is that they may be less likely to get caught, because everyone assumes any new leaks are from Snowden.  Matt Blaze recently noted that the most recent bombshell concerning the NSA’s catalog of exploits, didn’t actually name a source.  And Glenn Greenwald has hinted strongly that the information is not from Snowden.

That doesn’t mean that the information isn’t from Snowden.  It could very well be from him and just no one’s said so.  Greenwald’s statements may actually be an attempt to solicit further leaks by making it clear that other leakers may be able to hide under the cover of Snowden.   Blaze also points out that this possibility certainly runs the very real risk of someone providing false information to credulous reporters.  That could come from those just pulling a prank or, more sinisterly, from an intelligence community looking to flood the press with disinformation to dilute and attempt to discredit the Snowden leaks.  The intelligence community has certainly been involved in such campaigns in the past.

That said, this is a real opportunity for others who would like to blow the whistle from within the intelligence community to potentially do so under the cover of Snowden, allowing them to leak without everyone searching for the new leaker, believing the information is actually coming from Snowden.  Still, if that’s happening, I hope that the reporters receiving those documents heed Blaze’s advice to be exceptionally careful to authenticate the documents, to find additional sources and also to disclose any uncertainty about the authenticity of the documents.