Since revelations about the extent of government surveillance began to flow fromformer National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden last year, the public has engaged inan ongoing debate about the role of leaks and whistleblowers in safeguarding democracy.

And according to some journalists closely associated with Snowden, that debate has spurred another leakerto come forward with what could bemore evidence of government overreach.

But now federal investigators have identified a suspect in their investigation into an alleged second source who supplied sensitive documents to an outlet led by journalists connected to Snowden reporting, according to Michael Isikoff at Yahoo News.So is this suspect"another Snowden"? Do these leakers have valuable information to offer to the public?Here on the Switch we sort through the noise.

Wait, there's a second Snowden?

Not exactly -- but there is aleaker who appears to have funneled sensitive government documents to journalists at The Intercept, the Pierre Omidyar backed site that counts Snowden journalists Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald among its founders.

This "second source" is mentioned during the final minutesof Poitras' recent documentary on Snowden, CitizenFour.Intercept co-founding editorJeremy Scahill is briefly shown discussing the person, and thefinal sceneof the film showsGreenwald in Moscow discussing the information apparently coming from him or her with Snowden.

"The person is incredibly bold," Snowden tells him while reviewing notes presumably detailing the fresh leaks, and Greenwald replies, "It was motivated by what you did."

The second source is widely believed to be the person who supplied documents for an August storybyScahill and Ryan Devereaux that showed nearly half of the people on the U.S. government's terror-tracking database lacked connections with any known terrorist group. The classified documents in the reportreferenced datesthat wereafter Snowden was already on the run, strongly suggesting thatthey came from another individual.

And has this person been caught?

According to a Yahoo News story this week, which quoted anonymous sources, the FBIhas identified a federal contracting employee as a suspectin the leak investigation and raided the suspect's Northern Virginia home. Contacted by the Washington Post, the FBI declined to comment.

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The “second source” for Snowden reporters, explained

National Security Agency document leaker Edward Snowden, unlikely Libyan revolutionary Matthew VanDyke and prolific amateur photographer Vivian Maier are some of the subjects of films nominated Wednesday for this year's International Documentary Assn. awards.

The five films nominated in the IDA's feature category are "Citizenfour," Laura Poirtras' look at how Snowden pulled back the curtain on the NSA's massive surveillance operation; "Finding Vivian Maier," John Maloof and Charlie Siskel's chronicling of the discovery of a trove of striking photographs by a Chicago nanny; "Point and Shoot," Marshall Curry's firsthand account of one man's odyssey from Baltimore to North Africa; "The Salt of the Earth," Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado's poetic examination of the life and work of photographer Sebastiao Salgado; and "Tales of the Grim Sleeper," Nick Broomfield's investigation of an accused serial killer in South Los Angeles.

The IDA will honor Darius Clark Monroe, director of "Evolution of a Criminal," a film in which he turns the camera on himself and explores how he went from 16-year-old honor student to bank robber, with its emerging documentary filmmaker award.

Andrew Hinton and Johnny Burke, directors of "Tashi and the Monk," about a Buddhist monk running a community for orphaned and neglected children in India, will receive the Pare Lorentz award, which recognizes films focusing on environmental and social issues.

The association previously announced that it will present Robert Redford with its career achievement award, Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato with its pioneer award, and Rithy Panh with its preservation and scholarship award.

The IDA will also confer awards for short film, student film, various series categories, technical achievements and more. The honors will be bestowed Dec. 5 at the 30th IDA Documentary Awards at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles.

For more information and a full list of nominees, go to documentary.org/awards.

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'Citizenfour,' 'Point and Shoot' among IDA Documentary Awards nominees

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?