Is Edward Snowden a whistleblower, traitor, leaker or public hero?
The National Security Agency contractor blew the lid off U.S. government surveillance methods five years ago, but intelligence chiefs complain revelations from the trove of classified documents he disclosed are still trickling out.
That includes recent reporting on a mass surveillance program run by close U.S. ally Japan and on how the NSA targeted bitcoin users to gather intelligence to combat narcotics and money laundering. The Intercept, an investigative publication with access to Snowden documents, published stories on both subjects.
The top U.S. counterintelligence official said journalists have released only about 1 % taken by the 34-year-old American, now living in exile in Russia, “so we don’t see this issue ending anytime soon.”