There's a new Edward Snowden on the block

There&#039;s a new Edward Snowden on the block

(Image credit: Michael Buckner/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

The Intercept, the new investigative journalism outlet spearheaded by Glenn Greenwald, published an in-depth report today on the U.S. government's bloated terrorist watchlist, which has grown rapidly in the years since the so-called Underwear Bomber tried and failed to blow up an airliner over Detroit in 2009.

But the story has managed to stir controversy in ways unrelated to its content. First, it was revealed that the government tried to spoil The Intercept's scoop by handing the pertinent information to the Associated Press, which was presumably considered a friendlier outlet. Then, CNN reported that the scoop was made possible by a new NSA leaker in the mold of Edward Snowden:

The article cites documents prepared by the National Counterterrorism Center dated August 2013, which is after Snowden flew to Russia to avoid U.S. criminal charges. [CNN]

No word yet on whether the unidentified leaker is a hero or a traitor.