Bart Gellman on NPR about claim that Russia/China got Snowden’s docs: “strong evidence this is *not the case” http://t.co/8ZBG3oLXsB

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) September 11, 2013

I listened to the Gellman NPR interview in its entirety. This exchange occurs at ~26:40. Gellman’s “strong evidence” that Snowden hasn’t intentionally or inadvertently shared his trove of secrets w/ Wikileaks, the Chinese, the Russians, etc is:

1) That there’s no evidence he has besides “pure speculation.”

2) that because Snowden could have made the “whole pile” public on the internet right off that bat, and that three months in we don’t see that, it strongly demonstrates he doesn’t intend to.

3) that Gellman considers Snowden “exceptionally skilled at digital self defense,” that he believes Snowden has “rendered himself incapable of opening the archive while he’s in Russia, that is to say, it’s not only that he doesn’t even have the key anymore, it’s that there’s nothing for the key to open anymore. That he has rendered the encrypted information literally impossible to open with what he has in his possession. He has told a former Senator, in a letter, that even under torture, he couldn’t give the information to the Russians. That’s not a boast about his alleged ability to withstand torture; that is a statement of fact about his capabilities. He simply can’t open it, and that means the Russians can’t get it.” (Gellman earlier in the interview claimed to only have a layman’s understanding of digital security)

Former Senator?… But anyway, Gellman’s “strong evidence” is his own speculation.