Returning to that New York Times story about Glenn Greenwald and his threats that Edward Snowden will release information to harm the US, here’s a section I didn’t highlight yesterday:

Asked about a so-called dead man’s pact, which Greenwald has said would allow several people to access Snowden’s trove of documents were anything to happen to him, Greenwald replied that “media descriptions of it have been overly simplistic.

“It’s not just a matter of, if he dies, things get released, it’s more nuanced than that,” he said. “It’s really just a way to protect himself against extremely rogue behavior on the part of the United States, by which I mean violent actions toward him, designed to end his life, and it’s just a way to ensure that nobody feels incentivized to do that.”

Yes, that’s right — Greenwald is saying that the United States may try to murder Edward Snowden.

Why are we supposed to take this kind of paranoid fantasizing at face value? Does anyone in their right mind believe that the US government is actually going to kill Snowden?

In fact, by publicizing this “dead man switch,” Greenwald has given enemies of the US a very strong incentive to do exactly what he claims the US may do — murder Edward Snowden, so that all the damaging information comes out. For a supposedly sophisticated journalist like Greenwald not to see this important point is pretty amazing — but maybe he does.