There is no doubt that Mr. Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency (NSA) contractor who has leaked voluminous documents about U.S. programs to monitor communications, has damaged the United States, but not in the ways that he had anticipated.
News of massive data mining programs that scour virtually all communications would only surprise individuals who had paid no attention to reports a decade ago of similar capabilities. And at no point has Mr. Snowden demonstrated that such programs, while shocking in scale, have broken any laws.
Instead, his revelations have tarnished America's reputation and undermined its credibility when it decries cyber-espionage by other countries.