>Trying to physical destroy copies only resulted in a somewhat burned laptop, and maybe made someone to release an "insurance file". If you buy the plausible a

>Trying to physical destroy copies only resulted in a somewhat burned laptop, and maybe made someone to release an "insurance file". If you buy the plausible argument that this was a UK govt leak designed to discredit Snowden while stating that the stolen information and the handling of it is a national security threat, then the grandiose and very public destruction of the hard drives actually makes sense. It was the gov't calling attention to its "attempt to destroy the information to limit harmful disclosure." The public grandstanding of that act would be a sensical precursor to a controlled leak of the sort the Independent published.