Secret Pentagon report claims Edward Snowden's NSA leaks 'helped terrorists'

Two US lawmakers have reportedly said that a secret Pentagon report proves that whistleblower Edward Snowden's revelations about the alleged mass surveillance programmes has 'tipped off US adversaries'.

Committee Chairman Mike Rogers said that the classified report confirmed that Snowden's real acts of betrayal place America's military men and women at greater risk and were likely to have lethal consequences for US troops.

Supporting Rogers' statement, ranking minority member, Dutch Ruppersberger, said that Snowden handed terrorists a copy of US' playbook and now they were paying the price, which the classified report confirmed, Cnet reports. However, the two lawmakers did not provide specific evidence to support their assertions, while a committee spokeswoman said that the lawmakers couldn't offer details because the Pentagon report was classified.

Rogers and Ruppersberger have been defenders of the NSA's mass surveillance activity under the Patriot Act.

Soon after the statements from the two lawmakers, Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who helped Snowden reveal the NSA programmes tweeted, "US Govt warns: leaks help Terrorists, endanger national security! -- for every leak over the last 40 years."

Greenwald linked the tweet to a post by the nonprofit Freedom of the Press Foundation that discusses government claims about WikiLeaks and the Pentagon Papers.