I don't know enough about what he discovered, or uncovered, or exposed, or whatever you want to call it, to have any opinion on this matter. And the OP mentioned global surveillance programs and highly classified information - which still tells me nothing. If Snowden was convinced that the government was doing something to harm the American people, I still don't know what it was. Sounds like a lot of hush-hush, secretive whispering, but where are the facts?