Looks like he actually impersonated officials with higher access: http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/29/20234171-snowden-impersonated-nsa-officials

Looks like he actually impersonated officials with higher access: http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/29/20234171-snowden-impersonated-nsa-officials-sources-say http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/29/20234171-... Snowden appears to be have acted brilliantly. We couldn't have asked for a better protagonist here. Personally, I think that, since he knew what he was going to do, he took everything within his grasp. Especially since he knew he had nothing to lose.