Well one motive that the police might have is if they have gone a bit rogue and want to hide that fact from their political masters, but feel that they are at risk of being exposed by Snowden / Greenwald. I'm not saying that this is the case, just that I find it every bit as plausible as the politicians getting all Machiavellian (most politicians just aren't clever enough to get away with that sort of thing).
What would you do if you were the head of the spy agency, and you think that Greenwald has information showing that you are spying on your own politicians?
> Well one motive that the police might have is if they have gone a bit rogue and want to hide that fact from their political masters, but feel that they are at risk of being exposed by Snowden / Greenwald.
Maybe. But if you've dug yourself into a hole, doesn't it make sense to stop digging?
> What would you do if you were the head of the spy agency, and you think that Greenwald has information showing that you are spying on your own politicians?
They have several options:
(1) Point out to the politicians that they agreed to it (which they probably did, if only passively)
(2) Kill Greenwald. Unlikely to work since Snowden has probably spread any documents widely around by now.
(3) Threaten Greenwald. Less publically than what they did.
(4) Use the information on the politicians to blackmail them into keeping quiet.
(5) Suggest to the politicians that the policy, though done for the right reasons (defence against terrorism, keeping in with the Americans, blah blah blah) may have gone too far and should now be looked into.
What would you do if you were the head of the spy agency, and you think that Greenwald has information showing that you are spying on your own politicians?