Glenn Greenwald revealed that Edward Snowden controls classified information that can become the US's "worst nightmare" if made public. The Guardian journalist, familiar with the secret data, said Snowden has documents detailing how the National Security Agency operates. If leaked to the media, this could "allow people to evade and even replicate surveillance". William Engdahl, author and publicist based in Frankfurt, comments.

Snowden claims he has sensitive information about the NSA structure and operations. How dangerous for the US secret services would the leakage of this data be?

This is impossible to say. Of course in a situation he is right now he would want to maximize the potential harm that he can do as kind of reverse blackmail on the US government.

In Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel has come under fire recently when opposition parties claimed that somebody in Merkel's office must have known that American NSA was 'in bed with the Germans' in their surveillance program. How will this affect her sliding ratings across the country?

This is an election year. In September there are German elections. Currently her party poll looks ever so slightly ahead of the socialists and socio-democrats in a coalition with the liberal party. That is very tenuous and socio-democrats are trying to make election politics out of this. So, it is an uncomfortable issue for her because it catches her in extremely embarrassing situation vis-a-vis the US. She is very pro-American.

These allegations have obviously come her way. How did she respond?

Quite weakly to be honest. She is proposing a European Union wide data-privacy law for the Internet. So, Facebook and Google will be forced to disclose to each government in the EU where they are disclosing their data, who they are giving it to, if it is the NSA, if it is FSB in Russia, if it is Chinese intelligence, they have to say this. But this is really red-haired issue because the real point is the NSA according to these revelations of Snowden if they are accurate, is spying on everyone everywhere, every German Cabinet Ministers are being spied on, German Intelligence has been spied on, but they don't do it through Facebook and Google.

That is secondary means of data espionage. IT experts who I have spoke with, they go directly under the spying of the Internet, they don't need permission from anybody. So, this is really what Snowden has exposed regardless of who he might be cooperating with, is the very fact that this is an era of cyber-war affair and General Alexander and the Fort Meade Maryland Complex of the NSA has developed a sophisticated data archival system where they can read anything from anybody anywhere and that is a little bit frightening. That is going too far in my opinion.

Why are Germans are so sensitive about eavesdropping?

I think Germans react mostly on economic issues and not on these complex issues of espionage expect the initial gut reaction, but so far she has tried to do damage control. She has done it in my view rather poorly. I described some of this. The Pentagon agenda, which includes the NSA in one of my books called "Full-spectrum Dominance" which is also available in the Russian language that they are out to control cyber space, outer space, sea, everything in-between and this is a new doctrine of world warfare from the Pentagon. It is a little bit uncomfortable for most people.

In the event that something happens to Snowden, he has this backup plan and there are several people that are supposed to have access to this classified information right away in the case something happens to him. How do you assess the existence of this insurance plan that he's set up for himself and who do you think these people might be who will have this access to the secret data?

I wouldn't want to speculate in public but what strikes me is that the whole Snowden affair stinks a little bit. He is just a little bit too cool, a little bit too smooth, the Chinese government chose not to bring him on a Chinese mainland, but allowed him to go on. Apparently he was on his way to some place and he ended up in Moscow.

But president Putin was very shrewd in his comments that he will allow Mr. Snowden asylum in Russia if he promises to stop doing these harmful things to our good friend the US. This is a new dissident of the type of Sakharov and that to me is a coded signal from president Putin that he suspects much more going on behind Snowden than Snowden just being a lone wolf.

What are your possible scenarios of what else could be behind Snowden?

It has been widely known. I know a number of IT professionals some oh whom have worked for NATO and this is no revelation that the US is constantly upgrading its cyber espionage to be able to do it everywhere on everyone. This is really not shocking news. Prudent people conduct their emails and their internet affairs in a way that they don't leave a paper trail that can be intercepted by the US intelligence. But my guess is that someone is feeding him this to embarrass the US government and just who that is open to speculation. One possibility that has been suggested is that Netanyahu intelligence service might be doing this out of revenge on president Obama for not playing by the music book of Tel Aviv and Netanyahu government on Syria on a number of questions and especially on Iran. But that is merely speculation but to me it is simply a little bit too professional for 29-year old youngster with limited CIA experience and then working for Booz Allen Hamilton. Of course the Deputy Director or Deputy Chairman of Booz Allen is a former head of the CIA James Woolsey, a neo-conservative who's called the war on terror the World War IV. So, Booz Allen Hamilton is a murky company.

Source: Voice of Russia