Edward Snowden: Hero, villain, or a bit of both?

Edward Snowden interview by Glenn Greenwald  (I am going mostly villain)

While I am glad we are finding out about the NSA data mining, I am disturbed by the means Edward Snowden went about it and then his fleeing to Hong Kong (of all places):

If the question is should Snowden have leaked such closely held secrets, I would reluctantly answer "yes." But if you are going to deliberately break the law in a civil society, you must be prepared to accept the consequences. Snowden ran away from those consequences. That does not make him a hero in my book. It makes him a criminal. Why didn't Snowden leak the information and then turn himself in? That would have been heroic. Instead, despite his protestations that he doesn't want the story to be about him, he comes off as a glory hound, an attention getter.

Douglas Rushkoff at CNN is describing Snowden as a hero (I am not buying that at all, especially given him fleeing the USA, nor do I consider it equivalent to what Daniel Ellsberg did in the sixties or consider Ellsberg a hero).

Robert Stacy McCain asks the more important question:  How did Snowden get the security clearance he got?  The NSA's secrets are only as safe as its weakest link, and entrusting them to a guy like Snowden is pretty damn weak.*  Was Snowden's employer Booz Allen looking for his replacement before he fled?

Daiman Thompson suggest this will be fatal to Obama's presidency.  I do not see that (at least not with just the NSA data mining).  There was bipartisan authorization under the Patriot Act and what was done by the NSA may be unconstitutional, it was arguably not illegal.  Now if this goes further and their is proof the Obama administration used this material improperly, then there might be something.  No one is saying that yet (at least as I am aware).

The amount of damage Snowden could do the USA if he stays in China is enormous.  Not so much on what he has leaked already (that just brought to the attention of the general public things that have been known by many people for a long time), but on what he might know and has not yet leaked.  Normally most people do not consider the People's Republic of China as a bastion of free speech.  Snowden claims he is trying to get to Iceland, but I doubt Iceland will want him now.

* I do not know what level of security clearance Edward Snowden had.  Here is the questionnaire you have to answer to get one.  Assuming no criminal background or other red flags, I do not see how not going to college would prevent you from getting a security clearance (hell depending on the college you attended, that might be a red flag in itself).

Update:
Da Tech Guy on Snowden:  Rosenberg, Roeden, Brutus, or Rommel?
Legal Insurrection:  This is not the first time such details were leaked...
TOM: Let's debate 4th Amendment rights and send Snowden to Leavenworth...  (Florence Colorado's supermax also works for me).
The Coward Snowden ran off again...
TOM: Edward Snowden's dubious heroism...
Lt.Col. Ralph Peters suggests the appropriate punishment (definitely not hero worship)...
Even the Daily Beast cautions against hero worship for Snowden
Thomas E. Ricks is leaning toward hero for Snowden...
Roger Kimball on the Wisdom of Benjamin Franklin (on the Snowden issue)
Investigators trying to figure out how Snowden obtained access to the NSA material he gave out (if he could hack it, who else could hack it)...
Americans by 2:1 ratio not bothered by NSA tracking
Stay Classy David Axelrod:  Snowden is a whistleblower who then blew the country...
DaTechGuy draws a conclusion looking at the Edward Snowden case and the Kaitlyn Hunt Smith matter...
Separated at Birth: Edward Snowden and...?
Ed Snowden's pole dancing girl friend...
Is what the NSA doing the same as what Google does (maybe both of them are evil)?  Richard Cohen does not see the big deal and considers Snowden a minor insignificant figure who wrecked his life:

[Edward Snowden} jettisoned a girlfriend, a career and, undoubtedly, his personal freedom to expose programs that were known to our elected officials and could have been deduced by anyone who has ever Googled anything. History will not record him as “one of America’s most consequential whistleblowers.” History is more likely to forget him. Soon, you can Google that.

Obama email meme goes viral... 
Mark Steyn on Snowden
Scientific American:  Five unknowns about the NSA's black hole...
TOM:  It is like a Hollywood Script  You mean like one of those bad Democrat Liberal politically motivated movies that no one watches?  I was hoping for stripper Cirque du Soleil!  

@msebl @radleybalko @senrandpaul @rsmccain My thoughts on Brooks' column here:pjmedia.com/instapundit/17…
— Instapundit.com (@instapundit) June 12, 2013

Snowden still in Hong Kong and talking to the press... 
Ace thinks Snowden is looking dodgy.  Agreed.  I think he looked dodgy from the start.
Snowden reveals classified info to Hong Kong papers (this is not how a hero acts).