Tobin Harshaw, Columnist

As Snowden Chats His Credibility Wanes

Most critics of Edward Snowden's curiousÂ live chatÂ at the U.K.'s Guardian today are focusing on the surveillance-leaker's grandiosity and martyr's complex.

June 17, 2013 at 10:14 PM UTC

By Tobin Harshaw

Tobin Harshaw is a Bloomberg Opinion senior editor and columnist on national security and military affairs. Previously, he was deputy editor at the op-ed page of the New York Times and the newspaper’s letters editor.

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Most critics of Edward Snowden's curiouslive chat at the U.K.'s Guardian today are focusing on the surveillance-leaker'sevasiveness, grandiosity and martyr's complex: "All I can say right now is the U.S. Government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me," he noted. "Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped."

I found the event more remarkable for the insight it provided on whether Snowden felt that warning Americans about their government's actions might also empower those who would hurt us. Turns out, he doesn't think there is all that much to be worried about. "I did not reveal any US operations against legitimate military targets," he said, explaining that: