Government Accountability Project

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Surveillance

NSA Whistleblower Thomas Drake's First Op-Ed in WaPo: We Need to Listen to Him

on August 26, 2011

National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Thomas Drake has been mentioned by name in editorials in all the major newspapers – the Washington Post (here and here), L.A. Times (here), and New York Times yesterday, which is worth quoting:

Treating potentially embarrassing information as a state secret is the antithesis of healthy government.

Today, WaPo publishes Drake's first solo op-ed since he was sentenced to community service and probation after the Justice Department's Espionage Act case against him imploded days before trial. Drake and I did a joint op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer a few weeks ago, but now, after being silenced for the better part of a decade, Drake speaks on his own, in his own powerful words:

The government’s penchant since Sept. 11, 2001, for operating in secrecy and hiding behind an executive branch “state secrets” doctrine has damaged our long-term national security and national character. It has, by sacrificing Americans’ general welfare and civil liberties, given rise to a persistent military-industrial-intelligence ­con­gressional surveillance complex.

Do not let Drake become a footnote in history. We have gone too far down the path of becoming a secrecy surveillance society, but it is not too late. Drake's case should be a turning point and his op-ed a rallying cry that our government can no longer hide its malfeasance behind the national security hysteria that has corrupted its institutions since 9/11.

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Drake's First TV Appearance Since Sentencing: "Yes, I Would Do It Again."

on August 12, 2011

National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Thomas Drake appeared with me on Russian Television's The Alyona Show yesterday, his first TV appearance since the Espionage Act case against him completely imploded days before trial and the Judge slammed the Justice Department at sentencing.


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Drake's First Op-Ed Since Sentencing, When The Judge Slammed The Justice Department

on August 01, 2011

JessTomI know we are all supposed to be writing about the debt ceiling deal, but today's Philadelphia Inquirer published a joint op-ed by myself and NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake, his first public writing since pleading guilty to a minor misdemeanor after the Justice Department's Espionage Act case against him unraveled in spectacular fashion days before trial.  

Drake and I wrote:

The Espionage Act was meant to help the government go after spies, not whistle-blowers. Using it to silence public servants who reveal government malfeasance is chilling at best and tyrannical at worst.

This administration's attack on national-security whistle-blowers expands Bush's secrecy regime and cripples the free press by silencing its most important sources. It's a recipe for the slow poisoning of a democracy.

Drake was sentenced to one year of probation and community service on July 15th after pleading guilty to a minor misdemeanor (misuse of a government computer), a far cry from the 35 years he was facing under the Justice Department's original charges. Steven Aftergood of Secrecy News obtained a transcript of the sentencing hearing, and summarized Judge Bennett's choice words for the Justice Department's handling of the case:

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Government Accessing Journalists' Phone Records: Happened to Me/Newsweek in 2003

on June 29, 2011

There's a lot of MSM attention being paid to the most recent of three identical subpoenas issued to New York Times investigative reporter James Risen to reveal his source, widely known to be whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling.  Risen submitted an amazing affidavit that should be required reading for anyone who cares about a free press.

I wanted to add to the dialogue my (in the words of Douglas McCollam) "creepy" experience as another example of the government tracking reporters' phone calls.  As the Columbia Journalism Review wrote on my situation back in 2003:

The government got a record of [Newsweek's] calls to an important source [Radack] on an important story [government malfeasance in the "American Taliban" case], without either party's knowing about it.  It's a quick lesson on how far an irate government may go to burn your source.  So remember, even on a local line, let's be careful out there.

So when Risen says,

I have learned from an individual who testified before a grand jury . . . that was examining my reporting about the domestic wiretapping program that the Government had shown this individual copies of telephone records relating to calls made to and from me

I am not surprised in the least.  Why is the MSM only realizing this in 2011 rather than 2003?

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Inspector General Report Vindicates GAP Clients From National Security Agency

on June 23, 2011

Inspector General (IG) Complainants J. Kirk Wiebe and William Binney React to Release of Report
Thomas Drake Served as Critical Material Witness During IG Investigation.

In response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests from GAP, Project on Government Oversight, and media outlets, yesterday, the Department of Defense (DoD) released a heavily redacted version of the December 15, 2004 Audit Report entitled "Requirements for the TRAILBLAZER And THINTHREAD Systems." 

The Report is the result of a years-long investigation launched after three former NSA officials (J. Kirk Wiebe, William Binney, and Ed Loomis) and a former congressional staffer (Diane Roark) filed a DoD Hotline Complaint alerting the IG to massive waste and mismanagement within the National Security Agency (NSA). Former senior NSA official Thomas Drake served as a material witness. GAP represents Wiebe, Binney, and Drake on whistleblower issues.

The whistleblowers asserted that the NSA had defrauded taxpayers and ignored urgent security needs by shelving a functioning program that included critical privacy protections for Americans (Thinthread) in favor of an undeveloped and significantly more costly venture that lacked privacy protections (Trailblazer).

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