Edward Snowden, my book with Scott Ritter, and the art of exploiting the messenger vs. the message

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

67. The only thing I care about with respect to Snowden

is whether his information is accurate. I don't care whether he is considered a hero or a villain or something in between; I don't care if he likes Ron Paul; I don't care if his girlfriend is or isn't a pole dancer. There's no doubt that his disclosures were illegal, but I'm not too concerned about his legal jeopardy, either, since he knew what he was getting himself into.

But if he is telling the truth about the extent of NSA's information-gathering - that's important. That's concerning. And it's also concerning that so much of what the NSA is up to has been subcontracted to private companies. There are any number of disturbing revelations. The big question, maybe the only question, is what happens now. What do we do with this knowledge?

I'd really like it if people would stop trashing Snowden. I'd really like it if people would stop hero-worshipping him, too. I would like it the most if we could focus on what, if anything, can or should be done about what he's told us.