D'Oh!!

so it looks like they didn't want to protect whistle blowers, now they finally are

So where does that leave Snowden? Wasn't he a whistleblower.

Whistle-blowing protection? That's an odd reason to encrypt websites. More likely this is a broad stroke to try to solve a narrow problem, brought on by higher-ups who don't really understand the problems they are facing but know that encryption is a popular buzzword and want something to put on their performance review next year.

^^ That.

Or it could be just another way for government to spend taxpayer dollars

^ ^ that