Those of you who, like me, see Edward Snowden’s whistle-blowing as a brave public service, revealing important information about the government’s often unlawful spycraft, will admit too that his leaks have caused significant fallout and P.R. damage to the government.

According to the New York Times this weekend, however, another top secret government leak, concerning a foiled al-Qaida plot, has created greater fallout for the U.S. intelligence community than Snowden’s combined.