Edward Snowden touched off another firestorm Friday, when his publishing buddy, Glenn Greenwald, got into a heated exchange with veterans activist Paul Rieckhoff on Bill Maher’s “Real Time” show.

Rieckhoff, founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, argued that the former National Security Agency contractor’s leaks had cost American lives, but Greenwald fervently disagreed.

If Snowden wants to make his case, Rieckhoff said, he should come back to the United States and face the music and stop hiding in Russia.

 “Total bullshit!” Greenwald responded. “He is not hiding in Russia!”

Greenwald’s cocksure attitude grated on Maher, who said that [former National Security Advisor]  Richard Clarke told him: “President Obama appointed me to a five-person group to review the entire issue around Snowden, and we had all the clearances in the world, and what he had leaked. What Snowden revealed has helped the terrorists. This is not a theory. He revealed things that there was no reason to reveal, and this only helped [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and the terrorists.”

Greenwald scoffed at Clarke’s contention, comparing Snowden to Daniel Ellsberg, who famously leaked the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times in 1971.

Watch how the Iraq war veteran responded via HBO’s “RealClearPolitics.”