> It's not clear to me how disclosing NSA's decryption breakthroughs benefits the public debate much, unlike previous disclosures
Well, that's the problem with trying to keep everything secret. If the majority of these "disclosures" were in the public interest - they should have been public knowledge. That would have made it far less likely for someone like Snowden to feel the need to "blow the whistle".
There is such a thing as a "presumption of trust", which the NSA has squandered. They likely had it before these leaks began, but now they have lost it, no-one listens even when they might have a good point.
Well, that's the problem with trying to keep everything secret. If the majority of these "disclosures" were in the public interest - they should have been public knowledge. That would have made it far less likely for someone like Snowden to feel the need to "blow the whistle".
There is such a thing as a "presumption of trust", which the NSA has squandered. They likely had it before these leaks began, but now they have lost it, no-one listens even when they might have a good point.