A scenario beyond your imagination has no less of a probability of occurring than one within it. You don't know (and neither do I) what system(s) he had access to and what type of data he acquired. You're assuming the NSA actually uses certain technologies it has at its disposal and it does so appropriately with no means of proving that assertion. You're also ignoring that the NSA isn't a single "entity". It's instead a very large bureaucracy with countless independent workers, contractors, sub-contractors, assistants, analysts and, yes, even sys-admins.
Some level of the compartmentalization within this mess has clearly failed. His background is irrelevant to that fact.
The point is, he was in a position to have this information regardless and leaked it. That's the story. Your insinuation that his background has some bearing on the information he has already leaked, the parts those within and without the intelligence community has been able to independently verify and the parts that have been confirmed by the WH is completely speculative.
What he leaked is a slideshow. The rest of what he said has been received by many here as gospel, when in fact, there are legitimate questions about his truthfulness.
So if you want to stick to primary sources, we have a PPT wit some logos thrown about in a tacky way.
What's his incentive for lying? I totally understand being a skeptical that a relatively low level contractor got access to everything, but I don't understand what would motivate someone to go public and incite the wrath of us intelligence if he didn't at least believe he was telling the truth.
If he's a Chinese mole, or in cahoots with enemies of the state, it doesn't seem like leaking some slides to the guardian and then filming a confession would be the way to go about it. Is the argument just that he's incompetent/confused, or am I missing something? Genuine question.
Some level of the compartmentalization within this mess has clearly failed. His background is irrelevant to that fact.
The point is, he was in a position to have this information regardless and leaked it. That's the story. Your insinuation that his background has some bearing on the information he has already leaked, the parts those within and without the intelligence community has been able to independently verify and the parts that have been confirmed by the WH is completely speculative.