What is really needed are politicians having the courage to stand up. If the material of the Snowden revelations alone are not enough, then nothing will be.

The problem seems to be that the politicians are so used to lying themselves, they don't mind when they're lied to. In Washington, lies are currency.

Especially, given the existence of the Speech and Debate Clause.

This article seems to make a huge deal out of everything and I feel like it may be exaggerating a little. That said I don't know the details very well, could anyone provide more insight or link to a more reliable source of additional information?

Not giving much more information but here's a more reliable source: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/oct/11/second-leaker...

Bruce Schneier mentioned his notion that there is a second whistleblower back in July:

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2014/07/nsa_targets_p...

The film confirms that explicitly; it shows Greenwald giving the name of the second leaker to Snowden (whose jaw drops).

Have you seen the film, or have you read somewhere, and then, where?

Confirmed in numerous reviews, including the one linked to right up top.

Um, it's in the OP. :-)

NSA has had whistleblowers before Snowdwen so this is not surprising.

it had exactly two, and neither leaked classified documents

this has been known for a few months if you've been paying very close attention: http://deep-state.tumblr.com/post/91320197853/confirmation-t...

this is a subject i study nearly obsessively, though

Why does it seem like such a remote possibility that Laura Poitras would be letting Jacob Appelbaum have access to the Snowden documents when the two of them have worked together on post-Snowden NSA reporting?

An example: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-nsa-uses-power...

Here's the article from Wired.com from which that excerpt was taken:

Glenn Greenwald on Why the Latest Snowden Leak Matters (July, 2014)

http://www.wired.com/2014/07/greenwald-q-a/

I know. I am the NSA desk analyst who doesn't have to work because you do. I just put a

    whole-tap site:news.ycombinator.com user:nyolfen

and does it the 6-degrees magic on all your net traffic.