Blaming Eric Snowden for Paris

Friday’s attacks are reopening the debate on whether intelligence leaks and encryption have made it too easy for terrorists to hide online.  . . . "Still, there’s no denying the political context. The criticism of Snowden comes as intelligence officials seek to reopen a debate over the balance between security and privacy — a balance that seemed, before the deaths of 129 individuals in Paris, to have been settled firmly in favor of civil liberties. U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials have complained publicly that encryption tools — in iPhones, laptops and mobile software like Facebook-owned WhatsApp — allow terrorists, drug dealers and other criminals to “go dark” and avoid monitoring.
"In his memoirs earlier this year, Morell said Snowden's revelations had a near-immediate effect on intelligence gathering: Within weeks, “communications sources dried up, tactics were changed."