Whistleblower Edward Snowden reportedly has thousands of documents in his possession that reveal the equivalent of "blueprints" for how the National Security Agency (NSA) operates. But he has no plans to make that information public.

This latest revelation about Snowden came from journalist Glenn Greenwald at The Guardian who told the Associated Press (AP) in an interview that Snowden has “basically the instruction manual for how the NSA is built.”

Snowden, who is still at an airport in Moscow and has requested temporary asylum in Russia, doesn't want the information in the NSA documents to become public, Greenwald said, because that would allow someone who read them to evade or even duplicate NSA surveillance.

Greenwald sought to explain why Snowden took the highly sensitive information with him:

“In order to take documents with him that proved that what he was saying was true he had to take ones that included very sensitive, detailed blueprints of how the NSA does what they do... I think it would be harmful to the U.S. government, as they perceive their own interests, if the details of those programs were revealed,” Greenwald told the AP.

What is that is unspoken Snowden would appear to be using the “blueprint” material as a backup to be released should the Obama administration attempt to do him harm. In addition, his possession of such material might explain why the Obama Justice Department is charging Snowden with espionage.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Snowden Wants to Keep the NSA 'Blueprint' Private (by Abby Ohlheiser, Atlantic Wire)

Reporter: Snowden has “Instruction Manual for How the NSA is Built” (by Jenny Barchfield, Associated Press)

Most Americans View Snowden as Whistleblower rather than Traitor (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

The Mysterious Missing Slides from the NSA Leaked Presentation (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)