I just watched this interfiew and am glad I did:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/nsa-whistleblower-edward-snowden-why
Well worth the time, Ed Snowden is no anonymous wikileaker, he’s got the courage to put his name and face out there and isn’t backing down one inch. The last sentence of the interview sums up his reasons succinctly:
“There’ll be nothing the people can do at that point to oppose it...it’ll be turnkey tyranny”.
Yup. He stood up and came forward on his own and had no intent of remaining anonymous.