Did Edward Snowden's leak make Americans less safe?

Former officials say it's not so much the specifics of what was leaked as the huge wave of publicity the leaks generated: Every news story could serve as a revelation to some terrorists, and a reminder to others, of the nation's capabilities."It's kind of Darwinian," former National Security Agency Director Michael Hayden said. "The more stuff like this is in the public domain, we'll still catch terrorists, but it will be the stupid terrorists... The guys we should really be worried about will be far less likely to be swept up in this effort." [Politico]

It's no accident it took a decade to catch up with Osama Bin Laden. The al-Qaeda leader took extraordinary precautions against being detected. Most of his communications within the al-Qaeda network were by old fashioned messenger...So how much damage was done by the leaks? Even stupid terrorists can cause a lot of casualties. Alerting them to the existence of these programs will make them more cautious — but probably not invisible. I don't know how intelligence agencies assess damage, but making it harder to track an enemy has to be considered a minus. [American Thinker]

So what is Snowden's real crime? Like Ellsberg, Vanunu, and Bradley Manning before him, he uncovered questionable activities that those in power would rather have kept secret. That's the valuable role that whistle-blowers play in a free society, and it's one that, in each individual case, should be weighed against the breach of trust they commit, and the potential harm their revelations can cause. In some instances, conceivably, the interests of the state should prevail. Here, though, the scales are clearly tipped in Snowden's favor. [The New Yorker]