U.S. Whistle Blower Threatened with 35 Years in Prison, Warns of Developing Tyranny

[Better Believe It]

Whistle Blower Threatened with 35 Years in Prison, Warns of Developing Tyranny
Thomas Drake blew the whistle on a massive domestic information gathering scheme and was called "an enemy of the state" (speech at Sam Adams Awards)
January 4, 2011


Thomas Drake is the 2011 winner of the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence. Thomas Drake attempted to expose massive NSA mismanagement and the agency's use of a data collection program that was more costly, more threatening to American citizens' privacy rights, and less effective than a readily-available alternative. For his actions, Drake's house was raided, and he was subsequently charged under the Espionage Act, facing 35 years in prison.

Bio

Thomas Andrews Drake (born 1957) is a former senior official of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), decorated United States Air Force and United States Navy veteran, computer software expert, linguist, management and leadership specialist, and whistleblower. In 2010 the government alleged that he 'mishandled' documents, one of the few such Espionage Act cases in U.S. history. His defenders claim that he was instead being persecuted for challenging the Trailblazer Project.


TRANSCRIPT EXCERPT

In my case, while a senior official at the National Security Agency, I found out about the use of electronic eavesdropping on Americans, turning this country into the equivalent of a foreign nation, for the purposes of blanket surveillance and data mining, blatantly disregarding a 23-year legal regime that was the exclusive means for the conduct of such electronic collection and surveillance, which carried criminal sanctions when violated. I also discovered that NSA had withheld critical and crucial intelligence prior to 9/11 and after 9/11, as well as data and information that was available but remained undiscovered, and if shared—if shared—could have made a decisive difference alone in preventing the 9/11 attacks from ever happening. I also learned about a massively expensive and failing surveillance program under development called Trailblazer that largely served as nothing more than a funding vehicle to enrich government contractors and keep government program managers in charge, when a cheap, highly effective, and operational alternative called ThinThread was available in-house that fully protected Americans' privacy rights under the law, while also providing superior intelligence to this nation.

These secret programs which deliberately bypassed the Constitution and existing laws were born during the first few critical weeks and months following 9/11 as a result of a willful decision made by the very highest levels of this government. Such shortcuts and end-runs were not and never necessary, as lawful [incompr.] existed that would have vastly improved our intelligence capability with the very best of American ingenuity and innovation, as well as time-honored noncoercive interrogation techniques.

Read the full speech at:

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=767&Itemid=74&jumival=7755

See the Sam Adams Award acceptance speech on YouTube at:

[teddy51]

1. Anyone care to tell me that this is not a Police State yet? If it's not, then I don't

know what one looks like. And to add, Obama has done nothing to correct this situation, and in fact has continued in the same direction that GW Bush was taking us.

[comipinko]

3. Don't worry, Obama's got this!!

It is more of that star-trek chess shit, just wait, you'll see!!!

[pmorlan1]

2. Thanks for posting.

Wow. This is so wrong.

[ProSense]

4. Weren't

"U.S. Whistle Blower Threatened with 35 Years in Prison, Warns of Developing Tyranny"

...the charges dropped?

Baltimore Sun – Espionage Charges Dropped Against Ex-NSA Manager
http://www.whistleblower.org/press/gap-in-the-news/1435-baltimore-sun--espionage-charges-dropped-against-ex-nsa-manager

[comipinko]

5. No, it was plead out, largely because of the "threat"

vesti causa est ovis-amo

[ProSense]

6. Point

"No, it was plead out, largely because of the 'threat'"

...the charges were dropped.

On June 9, 2011, all 10 original charges against him were dropped. He rejected several deals because he refused to "plea bargain with the truth". He eventually pleaded to one misdemeanor count for unauthorized computer access[9]; Jesselyn Radack of the Government Accountability Project, who helped represent him, called it an act of "Civil Disobedience"[10]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Andrews_Drake#Court_proceedings

[SomethingFishy]

7. Point...

I'm more concerned with what he was trying to tell us then whether or not the charges were dropped.

[ProSense]

8. Well,

"I'm more concerned with what he was trying to tell us then whether or not the charges were dropped."

...that's fine. So you shouldn't object to pointing out that the "charges were dropped," which isn't clear by the headline.

[comipinko]

10. You should make it clear that it was a plea deal, your posts exclude that.

sheeeeesh.

[Occulus]

42. I see you've met Prosense.

[comipinko]

9. Point:

A plea deal is NOT the same as just "dropping charges". Are you ok with the fact that those charges were brought in the first place?



vos videor futurus madidus per delusion !

[ProSense]

12. Confusion:

"A plea deal is NOT the same as just 'dropping charges'."

The 10 criminal charges were dropped, the plea deal about unauthorized computer access is not the same thing.

[ProSense]

19. Really?

"You seem hopelessly lost in the rose colored world that envelopes happy lobotomites."

If pointing out that the charges were dropped is akin to a "rose colored world that envelopes happy lobotomites," what do you call a world in which people hurl moronic insults at others for stating a fact?

[Inuca]

20. Lefty talibans n/t

[comipinko]

22. Moronic ovine.

[Inuca]

26. I assume

this your answer to the question above, in which case it's a valid one. Else, consider I did not reply.

[great white snark]

50. I see you've met comipinko.

Insults and strawmen abound.

[comipinko]

21. I would not have thought that my opinion of you would matter enough to insult you!

The opinion was expressed to address your posting habits in general., But you knew that.

[ProSense]

23. Wait

"I would not have thought that my opinion of you would matter enough to insult you!"

...where did I say it did?

Characterizing an insult as an insult, doesn't mean it matters. Maybe I should have stated "attempted" insult?

"The opinion was expressed to address your posting habits in general., But you knew that."

Well, there goes that obsession again!

[comipinko]

24. again with the delusions of granduer !!

Baaa ....baaa.....baaa.

[ProSense]

28. So

"again with the delusions of granduer !!"

...why are you so focused on me? I mean, I'm nobody, but you hang on my every word.

[bvar22]

16. Now that NDAA has been codified,

...there won't be any need for the government to bargain.
They can simply slam "Enemies of the State" straight into the dungeons without having to do all those messy things associated with a democracy,
like have trials, present evidence, and argue the government's case in public.
That stuff was sooo much trouble.

Some are cheering this great advancement.




[font size=5 color=green][center]Solidarity99![/font][font size=2 color=green]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/center]

[comipinko]

17. Don't worry, Obama promised!!!!!!

And if that is not good enough for you, then too bad.

[CreekDog]

11. the charges were brought

is that okay with you?

or does that depend upon who was in the White House at that moment?

[comipinko]

14. seems , to that one, that is ALL that matters.

[ProSense]

18. In

\"the charges were brought is that okay with you? \"

...a word, no!

[div class=\"excerpt\"]In July 2007, armed FBI agents raided the homes of Roark, Binney, and Wiebe, the same people who had filed the complaint with the DoD Inspector General in 2002.[24] Binney claims they pointed guns at his wife and himself. Wiebe said it reminded him of the Soviet Union.[28] None of these people were charged with any crimes. In November 2007, there was a raid on Drake\'s residence. His computers, documents, and books were confiscated. He was never charged with giving any sensitive information to anyone; the charge actually brought against him is for \'retaining\' information (18 U.S.C. § 793(e)).[18] The FBI tried to get Roark to testify against Drake; she refused.[28] Reporter Gorman was not contacted by the FBI.[13][19]

Drake initially cooperated with the investigation, telling the FBI about the alleged illegality of the NSA\'s activities.[28] The government created a \'draft indictment\' of Drake, prepared by prosecutor Steven Tyrrell. It listed charges as \"disclosing classified information to a newspaper reporter and for conspiracy\". Diane Roark, Binney, Wiebe, and Loomis (the complainants to the DoD IG in 2002) were also allegedly listed as \"unindicted co-conspirators\".[24] In 2009 a new prosecutor came on the case, William Welch II,[13][28] and changed the indictment. Some charges were removed, as was any naming of \'co-conspirators\'. The new case only contained charges against Drake.[24]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Andrews_Drake#2007_FBI_raids

\"or does that depend upon who was in the White House at that moment?\"

I suppose the test would have been if the raid had happend on Obama\'s watch. The fact that the Grand Jury indictment happened on Obama\'s watch is every bit as relevant as the fact that the charges were dropped on his watch.

Does this change the fact that the charges were dropped?

Charges were also dropped against Tamm
http://www.openthegovernment.org/node/3089

Bush left a mess, didn\'t he?

[JDPriestly]

38. Bush left quite a mess, and Obama has just ratified it.

[Luminous Animal]

27. I guess that makes it okay then?

From the transcript...

"However—however—rather than address its own corruption, ineptitude, and illegality, the government made us targets of federal criminal leak investigations, part of a vicious—I repeat, vicious—campaign against whistleblowers that started under Bush and has now come to full fruition under Obama, inverting the logical paradigm. We were transmogrified from public servants trying to improve our government, into traitors and enemies of the state. The government subjected us to severe retaliation that started with forcing us from our jobs as career public servants, rendering us unemployed and unemployable, while [incompr.] a wrecking ball into the conditions of our jobs, in my case a security clearance, and in Jesselyn's case, state bar licensure. We were blacklisted and no longer had a stream of income, while simultaneously incurring attorneys fees and necessitating second mortgages on our respective homes. But that was nothing, that was nothing compared to the overkill reprisal to come, placement on the no-fly list for Jesselyn and prosecution under the Espionage Act for me.

What we experienced sends unequivocally a chilling message, an unequivocally chilling message about what the government can and will do when one speaks truth to power: a direct form of political repression and censorship. If sharing issues—if sharing issues of significant and even grave public concern which do not in any way compromise our national security is now considered a criminal act, we have strayed far from what our founding fathers envisioned. When exercising First Amendment rights is now considered espionage, this is anathema to a free, open, and democratic government."

[JDPriestly]

33. Did you listen to his speech? He explains that the extent to which the

government went to persecute him for speaking out against, for blowing the whistle on government violations of our Constitution.

He also explains how the government is now codifying and legitimizing excessive surveillance, how it is ridding itself of the inconvenience of habeas corpus and how it continues to develop the tools of our surveillance state that actually make a mockery of freedom.

The hero of many DUers, Obama, is himself not courageous enough to blow the whistle on what he surely knows is happening.

You know something that has disturbed me deeply as one who lived within miles of and traveled in Eastern Europe while it was still under Communist rule?

It is that we have heard and seen so little of the details of the Stasi records that have been released. Americans have no concept and our government and press have not adequately apprised us of the horrors of the surveillance and paranoia with which the East German government repressed dissent within its borders.

I do not know for sure why. But I have a deep suspicion that our government does not want us to think about what the many cameras on our streets, in our businesses, in our schools, everywhere we go mean. We are told that the security measures are to protect us. But, let's face it, in addition, they restrict us. They limit our freedom.

They limit our freedom of association, our freedom of assembly, our freedom of speech and make it all too easy for our government to search our private sphere, our cars, sometimes even our papers and things and to know at every minute where we are and with whom we are associating without our knowing it.

America of today -- with our electronic credit card and utility and mortgage and other payments that the government could if it wanted to view -- with our reliance on telephone and other electronic communications with our families and our friends -- know and therefore control our every thought and move in a way that the East German Stasi could only dream of.

It is time to wake up.

Obama is doing nothing to end the path toward a total surveillance state that we are on. Signing the NDAA was a huge setback because by signing it, Obama made himself and the Democratic Party complicit in the assault on our liberty that began as WWII ended and that progressed rapidly during the Bush administration.

The Tea Party talks about liberty and freedom, but they do not recognize that it was their own heroes who did so much to destroy our liberty and freedom.

The speech in the OP must be heard by everyone who is serious about freedom and the US Constitution.

[sabrina 1]

39. Because the case fell apart. Which is even worse. Not only was he prosecuted, there was

no reason to do so which became apparent as the case unfolded. And who restores his reputation or the time and the stress and the money he had to spend to defend himself from the Government?

I followed this case and was appalled that a whistle-blower, and an exemplary citizen should be persecuted for doing his duty as he was. This case demonstrated that we are further down the road than we suspected, to a complete silencing of whistle-blowers, which should scare anyone who cares about this country.

The war on Whistle-blowers is a disgrace. The Government has an obligation to protect, not to persecute people like this. Sadly, they chose to persecute him.

[Cerridwen]

15. K & R

It was a long read but there is some very interesting, if stomach churning, information in his story.

[Uncle Joe]

25. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Better Believe It.

[treestar]

29. Why should we automatically believe that he is the one in the right?

There can be all sorts of disputes on these issues.

[Better Believe It]

31. If you become familiar with this this case you will understand why he should be defended ....

from those who want to undermine our Constitution and democratic rights.

It's pretty cut and dried.

[whatchamacallit]

30. It's long been apparent to "batshit" people like me

that post 9/11 domestic surveillance was/is not about the protecting the US, but about covering the government's lying ass.

Please don't use my opinion as an excuse to chuck this information into the dungeon.

[JDPriestly]

32. Most important post ever posted on DU.

I hope every DUer reads this.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=post&forum=1002&pid=124079

[T S Justly]

34. K&R (nt)

[NorthCarolina]

35. K&R

[99th_Monkey]

36. This is SO agregeous, I scarcely believe it's really happening.

But then I remember how we've been sharply trending since Bush was elected, or was it Bush 1, or was it Reagan, or the Kennedy Assassination?

anyway, you get the idea..

[riderinthestorm]

37. Honored to join the illustrious crowd in the K&R on this story. Too important to drop nt

[AnotherMcIntosh]

40. Absolutely disgusting. Somebody please tell us why we should vote for Obama again.

He's not Gingrich? OK. Got it. He can't do the things that he really wants to do because of Republican obstructionists? OK, got that as well.

He'll do a much better job in protecting civil rights in the second term? He'll discontinue domestic spying? OK. Sure.

[unkachuck]

41. K&R....n/t

[datadiva]

43. 1984 in 2012 n/t

[coalition_unwilling]

45. Emphatic K&R - n/t

[CoffeeCat]

46. Why aren't any of our elected REPRESENTATIVES like this hero?

Where are the politicians--who know the truth that Thomas Drake knows so well? They're
in on it. They understand who the criminals are, what their crimes are--and they know full
well that the American people are being screwed over and our democracy turned into a joke.

How is it that hundreds and thousands of educated and powerful Americans, in the upper echelons
of power--are such failures and cowards?

Do they not know that they will be judged, just as the worst dictators, criminals and sociopaths have
been judged throughout history?

[barbtries]

47. kicking to bookmark

gotta go to work...

[Laelth]

48. k&r for exposure. This is significant. n/t

-Laelth

[lonestarnot]

49. Damn scarey.

[Better Believe It]

51. And it's for real.

[JackRiddler]

52. Thanks for keeping this in our attention.

[Kaleko]

53. A case every American should become familiar with.

An eye-opener such as this one could drive enough fence-sitters over the edge and really make a difference.

"You measure a democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists."
- Abbie Hoffman