It's predicated on the data being in the laptops. As well, even by the author's own wild story, Snowden would "feel terrible, and remember being drugged and losing the information"
That doesn't jive with:
1) Snowden and Assange & Appelbaum (who likely are advising) would NOT make the rookie mistake are carrying the data on one's person. That'd be like Assamge carrying the original Wikileaks dump with him at all times.
2) Greenwald has talked by phone (Snowden called him) on Sat and again this Tues, and Snowden told him no such drugging story. Indeed, his spirits are high and he's satisfied with the global debate that's ensued from his actions. He said specifically he's never been in China or Russia authorities' hands.
The #FoutLaptops are for Snowden to get online securely. There's even that hashtag on Twitter to debunk the silly rumors about the laptops.
NYT is spreading a false, wild speculation.
NYT is also responsible for the earlier "while in HK his laptops were compromised" rumor (wrong-he was in a hotel provided by his HK media and parliament contacts).
That rumor was "quoted" by the New Yorker reporter in Beijing and that's the genesis of how it spread. I contacted that reporter (who I know tangentially) and told him not to publish the NYT speculation the day he posted it. Now that its even more refuted, I contacted him again last night.
Snowden (and Asaange/Appelbaum likely advising) are much too skilled to make an unprofessional infosec mistake. Everyone knows the security is both "physical" and "electronic". That's 1st grader knowledge, and the NYT apparently has little infosec training.