Fugitive NSA leaker Edward Snowden possesses information that could be extremely harmful to the United States and would be released automatically if “something happens” to him:  That, from the reporter closest to the situation.

Glenn Greenwald of The Guardian said this in an interview with the Argentinean paper La Nacion.

“Snowden has enough information to cause harm to the U.S. government in a single minute than any other person has ever had,” Greenwald said.  “The US government should be on its knees every day begging that nothing happen to Snowden, because if something does happen to him, all the information will be revealed and it could be its worst nightmare.”

The remarks seem to confirm that Snowden possesses information that he could use as leverage against the United States in the event of arrest and extradition, or as Greenwald seems to hint at, something worse.  Greenwald did not specify which actions would trigger a mass leak of information, who could or would authorize it, or who could or would execute that mass release.