[hyperman1]

True of course.

But Snowden was not the only person having this access. What about all of his colleagues? If a country manages to bribe or blackmail even one of these people to smuggle out an USB stick, you have exactly the same situation.

Given the resources available to China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, etc..., the sheer number of available targets, and the invisibility of the attack, what are the odds of this kind of theft not happening? And that's without all the other ways for them to get reasonable estimates of these things.

[macspoofing]

I'm not sure the point you're making. Are you saying that Snowden's theft isn't that big of a deal because other agencies must have already hacked the NSA and gotten all that data?

[hyperman1]

I say that Russia is smart enough to weigh both options. Either access to data they already had, or putting a wedge between their enemies by amassive anti USA pr campaign. Or even a mix of both.

And yes, also that the theft isn't as big a deal as it seems.