It is still not clear, and may never be, how much of the Snowden material is a deceptive ruse, and he may not know either. Nor do the outlets to which he provided the material, none of which had ror have the technical or espionage capability to evaluate, test, judge what is legitimate, what is salted as disinfo, what is illusory, what is sheer bluff -- all long-lived characteristics not only of military affairs but specifically about comsec and propaganda. The latter has always used the media for broadcasting deception, willingly done so by media then discounted later, monetizing the full spectrum of faith and infidelity. Official and private skeptics of Snowden assert a classic deception operation is underway, canards of deception themselves: http://cryptome.org/2014/08/snowden-deception-question.htm To be sure, it is likely Snowden quietly distributed material to others with capabilities lacking in journalists and polemicists, either beforehand or afterwards. This would be conventional operational security to not put all eggs in the omelets of journalism alone. There are hints in published accounts by Greenwald and Harding that before Snowden gained Poitras' highly skeptical confidence he was in contact with intermediaries who could vet his offerings with technical and espionage skills -- none have come forward to admit this prior Poitras-Greenwald-Gellman review but their names are online awaiting disclosure. Moreover, there seems to be parallel assessment of the Snowden caches, however many there are -- dozens of fragments have been shared according to published reports. But the alleged bulk of the material remains unreleased, ranging from 58,000 to 1.7 million items (pages or files). Gellman has never stated the size of the cache provided to him, except citing one example of examining 200,000 pages to identify certain info. And it is noteworthy that all the reported holders of Snowden material claim to have checked with authorities before publication. Smoke and mirrors, for sure of which Bamford is a master. But then, Zelda, are we not all capable of playing the Zelda ruse.