Look, the guy contacted Wikileaks a few hours before his death. Wikileaks! He also contacted his employers about a story he was writing on the subject of NSA. Now, if .. IF the FBI/NSA were intent on ending him, surely they would have been privy to said communications. This being the case - what motive would they have to go through with it? I mean, by doing so, they would knowingly and invariably be drawing more heat to that which they were covering up. How? Well,
a) Wikileaks knows about it. Therefore a suspicious death would draw more attention to whatever it was he was about to report.
b) A suspicious death would make him a journalistic martyr, prompting one of his fellow reporters to pick up on where his research was left and give even greater salience to the issue reported. The FBI aren't stupid. They know that murdering a reporter would only magnify the issue down the track.
I'm sorry, it just doesn't make sense to me that they would willingly self-immolate by killing the dude and igniting several spotfires.
I'd like to believe it too. I'd love to see these Prism guards go down, believe me. Honestly thought the people of HN were a bit beyond the conspiracy crap you find on Reddit and such places.