Who is the new Edward Snowden?

Whistleblower: Someone said to be employed by a US government contractor is leaking secrets to the same journalists who worked with Edward Snowden.

The FBI has reportedly raided the home of an "extremely principled and brave" whistleblower working for a US contracting firm, thought to have been inspired by security contractor Edward Snowden to continue his work.

The existence of a "second Snowden" was first suspected by authorities when information about the US government's master terrorist screening database surfaced online in August, months after Snowden had already fled the country.

In an article on news site The Intercept titled "Barack Obama's Secret Terrorist-Tracking System, by the Numbers",Jeremy Scahilland Ryan Devereaux interpreted the information - which they attributed to a "source in the intelligence community" - to show almost half the people on terror watchlists had no known affiliation with any terrorist group.

Edward Snowden talks with Journalist Glenn Greenwald in a scene from the documentary Citizenfour. Photo: Supplied

The Intercept was co-founded by Scahill with Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald, to whom Snowden previously leaked details of the National Security Agency's mass surveillance programs.

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The government's frantic search for the new leaker intensified this month after scenes fromPoitras' documentary on Snowden, Citizenfour,showed Greenwald appearing to confirm the existence of new whistleblower.

Greenwald is shown meeting Snowden in Moscow, where the whistleblower has sought asylum from US criminal charges, scribbling notes about the new source on paper for fear of being overheard.

"The person is incredibly bold," Snowden said, after learning the details of the leaks. Greenwald replied: "It was motivated by what you did."

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Who is the new Edward Snowden?