Thomas A. Drake
Thomas A. Drake | |
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Thomas Andrews Drake (born 1957) is a former senior executive of the
On June 9, 2011, all 10 original charges against him were dropped. Drake rejected several deals because he refused to "plea bargain with the truth". He eventually pleaded to one misdemeanor count for exceeding authorized use of a computer;[10] Jesselyn Radack of the Government Accountability Project, who helped represent him, called it an act of civil disobedience.[11]
Biography
Drake's father was a
In 2000, he was hired as a software systems quality specialist and management and information technology consultant for
In 2011, Drake was awarded the Ridenhour Prize for Truth Telling[2] and was co-recipient of the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence (SAAII) award. Accepting the SAAII award he said,[13] with references to an 1857 speech of Frederick Douglass:
"Power and those in control concede nothing ... without a demand. They never have and they never will. ...each and every one of us must keep demanding, must keep fighting, must keep thundering, must keep plowing, must keep on keeping things struggling, must speak out and must speak up until justice is served because where there is no justice there can be no peace."
Whistleblowing on Trailblazer and government response
National Security Agency surveillance |
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Drake action within the NSA
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the NSA desired new tools to collect intelligence from the growing flood of information pouring out of the new digital networks like the Internet. Drake became involved in the internal NSA debate between two of these tools, the Trailblazer Project and the ThinThread project.[9][21] He became part of the "minority" that favored ThinThread for several reasons,[21] including its theoretical ability to protect the privacy of US individuals while gathering intelligence.[15] Trailblazer required billions of dollars, dwarfing the cost of ThinThread. Drake eventually became "disillusioned, then indignant" regarding the problems he saw at the agency.[15] Around 2000, NSA head Michael Hayden chose Trailblazer over ThinThread; ThinThread was cancelled and Trailblazer ramped up, eventually employing IBM, SAIC, Boeing, CSC, and others.[24]
Drake worked his way through the legal processes that are prescribed for government employees who believe that questionable activities are taking place in their departments.[21] In accordance with whistleblower protection laws such as the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act, Drake complained internally to the designated authorities: to his bosses, the NSA Inspector General, the Defense Department Inspector General, and both the House and Senate Congressional intelligence committees.[25]
He also kept in contact with
In September 2002, Roark and three former NSA officials,
NSA own inquiry and acknowledgement
By 2003, the NSA Inspector General (IG)[15] had declared Trailblazer an expensive failure.[31] It cost more than 1 billion dollars.[25][32][33]
In 2004, the DoD IG produced a final report of its investigation that had been prompted by Roark & the others in 2002. The report basically agreed with their assertions and found very serious flaws at NSA. For a time, the NSA was even banned from starting projects over a certain size, for fear it would waste the money. However, there were no plans to release this DoD IG report to the public at the time.[27]
Eventual whistleblowing
In a 2011
In November 2005, Drake contacted Siobhan Gorman of The Baltimore Sun newspaper, sending her emails through Hushmail and discussing various topics.[9][21] He claims that he was very careful not to give her sensitive or classified information; it was one of the basic ground rules he set out at the beginning of their communication. This communication occurred around 2006.[34] Gorman wrote several articles about waste, fraud, and abuse at the NSA, including articles on Trailblazer. She received an award from the Society of Professional Journalists for her series exposing government wrongdoing.[9] Judge Richard Bennett later ruled that "there is no evidence that Reporter A relied upon any allegedly classified information found in Mr. Drake's house in her articles".[35]
2007 FBI raids
In July 2007, armed
Drake initially cooperated with the investigation, telling the FBI about the alleged illegality of the NSA's activities.[20] 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".[27] In 2009 a new prosecutor, William Welch II, came on the case and changed the indictment.[15][20] Some charges were removed, as was any naming of 'co-conspirators'. The new case only contained charges against Drake.[27]
Prosecutors wanted Drake to
Indictment
In April 2010, Drake was indicted by a Baltimore grand jury on the following charges:[4][5][6][8]
- Willful Retention of National Defense Information
- (793(e) is a modification of the Espionage Act of 1917 made under the McCarran Internal Security Act of 1950)
(5 counts)
- Obstructing justice (1 count)
- Making a False Statement (4 counts)
The indictment contained many other allegations, but most of them did not relate to the actual charges against him. He was not specifically charged with unauthorized disclosure of classified information, nor was he charged under [37] The indictment gave details about his communications with Roark and with Gorman, but he was not charged with any crime directly relating to those communications.[8] The indictment also did not list the names of Gorman or Roark, but they were confirmed by reporters (e.g. Mark Hosenball of Newsweek).[4][9] Roark's lawyer claimed that the indictment contains a "mischaracterization of the facts" about the relationship between her client and Drake.[9] Roark herself later spoke out in support of Drake and the other whistleblowers of the Trailblazer project.[20]
, the "SIGINT" statute.The "willful retention" charges regarded five documents allegedly "related to the national defense" that were found at Drake's residence. The five documents in question were referred to as "What a Success",
The obstruction charge was related to Drake allegedly deleting documents while he was purportedly aware that the FBI was investigating leaks to the media, and that the FBI was contemplating investigating leaks to Siobhan Gorman of The Baltimore Sun.[8] The false statements charge was filed in relation to the FBI's questioning of Drake without a lawyer present in the initial stages of the investigation when he was cooperating with them. One count is for alleged statements made by him regarding whether he had willfully taken certain documents home. Another count is for allegedly lying about the purported transmission of classified information to Gorman.[6][20] Drake's defenders point out that the government's own expert found that he had not destroyed any evidence. They also point out that Drake was careful not to give any classified information to Gorman, and that many of the documents in question were 'retroactively classified' after they were seized from his home by the FBI.[20][42]
The federal offices involved in filing the indictment included the DOJ Public Integrity Section, DOJ Criminal Division, DOJ National Security Division, the FBI, and the NSA Office of Security & Counterintelligence.[6] Drake was represented by James Wyda and Deborah Boardman, federal public defenders.[7][43]
Drake was also a client of the Government Accountability Project, a whistleblower non-profit. Jesselyn Radack, director of Homeland Security and Human Rights for GAP, worked with Drake. Author and NSA authority James Bamford was a consultant for Drake's defense as well.[44][45]
Government prosecutor William M. Welch II, who had previously been charged with contempt and removed from the Ted Stevens case, served as the government's initial Senior Litigation Counsel,[46][47] John P. Pearson of the DOJ Public Integrity Section was the government's Trial Attorney, and Lanny A. Breuer was in charge of overseeing the prosecution.[20]
Federal Judge Richard D. Bennett was responsible for hearing handling the case, and initially set trial for June 2011.[48][49]
The Drake case has been written about in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Agence France-Press, Newsweek, Wired, the Washingtonian.com, the Federation of American Scientists' Secrecy News, Politico, and elsewhere.[50] Jesselyn Radack, of the Government Accountability Project, has also discussed the case.[51]
The U.S. government publicly stated that the prosecution of Thomas Drake was not intended to
Court proceedings
In the spring of 2011, the prosecution made several moves to restrict the normally open proceedings of a jury trial in a United States courtroom, as reported by Gerstein at
In addition, the prosecution also had the court seal two exhibits the defense had already published in one of its public court filings, which listed various documents the prosecution would try to use at trial.[57][58]
The prosecution argued that the CIPA also applied to non-classified information and attempted to have unclassified information presented at trial in redacted form only.[59]
Government arguments
Referring to Siobhan Gorman's Baltimore Sun news stories, the government legally pleaded that the "newspaper articles are unduly prejudicial. The only purpose for the admission of these newspaper articles is to put NSA on trial." The prosecution also contended that it had no legal obligation to prove Drake's intent to harm national security, saying that it "does not have to prove that defendant intended to harm the country" under the specific part of the Espionage Act that Drake was charged with; [60] The government also argued that any discussion at trial of the legal concept of whistle-blowing would likewise be irrelevant to the charges.
. As for the 'overclassification' defense, the government argued that such a defense claim would be 'confusing to the jury' and thus irrelevant to the charges.Final disposition
In early June, shortly after the May 22, 2011, broadcast of a 60 Minutes episode on the Drake case, the government dropped all of the charges against Drake and agreed not to seek any jail time in return for Drake's agreement to plead guilty to a single misdemeanor of misusing the agency's computer system.
At the July sentencing hearing the presiding judge, Richard D. Bennett of Maryland's Federal District Court, issued harsh words for the government, saying that it was "unconscionable" to charge a defendant, two years after his home was searched, with a list of serious crimes that could have resulted in 35 years in prison, only to drop the 10 counts of the indictment on the eve of trial.[61] Expressing his "irritation" with the prosecution, Bennett also completely rejected the government's request for a $50,000 fine, despite the sentencing guidelines recommending a fine of $500-$5,000. He noted that Drake had been financially devastated, spending $82,000 on his defense, losing his $154,600 job at the NSA and his pension, and being fired from his university teaching position. He sentenced Drake to one year of probation and 240 hours of community service.[61]
Since 2012
Drake appeared on The Daily Show on August 6, 2012, to talk about the history of his case,[62] and in September sent an audio message of support to CryptoParty.[63]
On March 15, 2013, Drake spoke at a National Press Club Luncheon about the national intelligence community and its attitude towards whistle-blowing.[64]
Drake inspired
Drake has become an activist against the surveillance state, frequently giving interviews and speaking at events such as Restore the Fourth and Stand Up For Truth.[67][68] One of the themes of his speeches and interviews is a "privacy exercise" as follows "Put your entire life in a box, your documents, bank accounts, your passwords, everything—and give it to a complete stranger—a fellow American for safekeeping. Would you do it?" he states that he has yet to encounter a "yes".[69]
In a September 2013 interview, Drake reaffirmed his belief that the problems of the NSA are so chronic and systemic that the only solution would be to completely dismantle and subsequently rebuild the entire organization.[70]
On July 3, 2014, Drake along with former Technical Director of the NSA
On November 10, 2015, Drake appeared on a
In 2014, Drake supported the international launch of The Whistler founded by Eileen Chubb and Gavin MacFadyen.[74]
In 2015, The Whistleblower Interview Project published Drake's contribution to the project.[75]
Espionage Act and whistleblowing
Drake is one of four individuals in the history of the United States who has been charged specifically with "willful retention" of "national defense" information under
Founding member of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
Drake is a founding member of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.[76] In September 2015, Drake and 27 other members of VIPS steering group wrote a letter to the President challenging a recently published book, that claimed to rebut the report of the United States
Related media works
In 2014, a documentary called Silenced, in which Drake was featured, was released.
Also in 2014, Drake's involvement with Thinthread, his subsequent indictment, etc., along with others associated with his activities (Roark, Binney, Wiebe, Loomis), and Snowden were featured in a PBS documentary, "United States of Secrets".[80]
See also
- Mark Klein
- Thomas Tamm
- Russ Tice
- Perry Fellwock
- Stephen Jin-Woo Kim
- Jeffrey Alexander Sterling
- Chelsea Manning
- Julian Assange
- Wen Ho Lee
- Reality Winner
Notes
- ^ a b c USA v. Thomas A. Drake: Selected Case Files, FAS.org, exhibit C Sentencing Memorandum (Redacted), July 11, 2011
- ^ a b "The Ridenhour Prizes - Fostering the spirit of courage and truth", www.ridenhour.org, Retrieved 2011-03-12
- ^ Blaylock, Dylan (2011-11-17). "Radack, Drake Win Sam Adams Award". Government Accountability Project. Archived from the original on 2012-01-15. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
- ^ a b c d e Scott Shane (April 15, 2010). "Former N.S.A. Official Is Charged in Leaks Case". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-04-17.
- ^ a b c "Obama's Justice Department indicts NSA whistleblower". Agence France-Presse via rawstory.com. 2010-04-15. Retrieved 2010-04-17.
- ^ a b c d "Former NSA Senior Executive Charged with Illegally Retaining Classified Information, Obstructing Justice and Making False Statements". Justice News. United States Department of Justice. April 15, 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-17.
- ^ a b c
Greg Miller, Spencer S. Hsu and Ellen Nakashima, with Carol D. Leonnig, Howard Kurtz and staff researcher Julie Tate (April 16, 2010). "Former NSA official allegedly leaked material to media". Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-04-17.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c d e f g h "United States v Thomas A Drake. Criminal Indictment of Thomas A Drake", filed April 14, 2010, US District Court, District of Maryland, Northern Division. This is a PDF of the criminal indictment itself, provided via jdsupra.com, in an upload from Justia.com. Retrieved 2010 April 17
- ^ a b c d e f g Mark Hosenball (April 16, 2010). "Exclusive: House Republican Staffer Introduced Alleged NSA Leaker to Reporter". Declassified. Newsweek.com. Retrieved 2010-04-17.
- ^
Josh Gerstein (June 9, 2011) "Ex-NSA official takes plea deal". Politico, Retrieved 2011-6-10
- ^ Jesselyn Radack, Daily Kos blog, 2011 6 11
- ^ NSA employee accused of leaking information sentenced to probation July 15, 2011, By Tricia Bishop, The Baltimore Sun
- ^ a b Drake, Thomas (2011-11-21). Whistle Blower Threatened with 35 Years in Prison, Warns of Developing Tyranny (Flash). Washington, D.C.: Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence.
- ^ Exhibit E, Defense sentencing motions, Federation of American Scientists website, July 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Ellen Nakashima, with Greg Miller & Julie Tate (2010-07-14). "Former NSA executive Thomas A. Drake may pay high price for media leak". Washington Post. Retrieved 2011-01-11.
- ^ Exhibit F, Defense sentencing motions, Federation of American Scientists website, July 2011.
- ^ 11th INTERNATIONAL SOFTWARE QUALITY WEEK, (QW'98), SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES, Software Research, Inc (soft.com)
- ^ "Testing Software Based Systems: The Final Frontier". Software Tech News, DoD. 2000-01-03. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 7, 2012. Retrieved 2010-08-09.
- ^ a b "USA v. Thomas A. Drake: Selected Case Files", Government's Motion to Preclude Evidence of "Whistleblowing", February 25, 2011, www.fas.org. Retrieved 2011-03-13
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Jane Mayer (May 23, 2011) The Secret Sharer, The New Yorker, Retrieved 2011 May 16
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Scott Shane (11 June 2010). "Obama Takes a Hard Line Against Leaks to Press". The New York Times.
- ^ "The 'Whistleblower' Probably Isn't". Rolling Stone. October 6, 2019.
- ^ "Speaker: Thomas Drake: Web 2.0 Summit 2011 - Co-produced by UBM TechWeb & O'Reilly Conferences, October 17 - 19, 2011, San Francisco". Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
- ^ James Bamford, The Shadow Factory, Chapter "Trailblazer", published by Doubleday, 2008
- ^ a b c Scott Shane,Obama Steps Up the Prosecution of Media Leaks, New York Times, 2010 June 12, A1.
- ^ "NSA Whistleblowers William (Bill) Binney, J. Kirk Wiebe". Government Accountability Project. Archived from the original on December 12, 2013. Retrieved April 27, 2013.
- ^ a b c d e Shane Harris (January 25, 2011) Indictment Continues Obama Administration's War on Leaks, Washingtonian, Retrieved 2011-09-03
- ^ Barton Gelman (2008-09-14). "Conflict Over Spying Led White House to Brink". The Washington Post.
- ^ "To What Extent Did the Government Monitor Phone, Internet Activity After 9/11?". PBS Newshour. June 28, 2013. Archived from the original on June 30, 2013. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
- ^ "NSA inspector general report on email and internet data collection under Stellar Wind – full document". The Guardian. June 27, 2013. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
- ^ Martin Sieff (August 18, 2005). "NSA's New Boss Puts Faith In Hi Tech Fixes". Space War.
- ^ "Little-known contractor has close ties with staff of NSA". The Baltimore Sun. 2006-01-29. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
- ^ "Eight questions for Daniel Ellsberg". The Economist. 2010-07-31. Retrieved 2010-08-03.
- ^ Wired News (14 July 2010). "NSA Executive Leaked After Official Reporting Process Failed Him". Wired News. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
- ^ Memorandum, June 2011, from FAS.org
- ^ "The Ridenhour Prizes - Fostering the spirit of courage and truth". ridenhour.org. Retrieved 2011-03-22.
- ^ Former Official Indicted for Mishandling Classified Info, Steven Aftergood, Secrecy News, 2010 April 15 .
- ^ "What A Success e-mail message" (PDF). National Security Agency response to FOIA request. July 20, 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2012-11-08. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
- ^ Indictment, April 14, 2010, Federation of American Scientists, fas.org, Retrieved 2011-03-21
- ^ Aftergood, Steven (March 19, 2013). "Classification Complaint Arising from Thomas Drake Case Dismissed". Federation of American Scientists Secrecy news. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
- ^ "Defense Memorandum in Support of DoD Inspector General Audit Documents", March 15, 2011, Federation of American Scientists, fas.org, Retrieved 2011-03-21
- ^ Jesselyn Radack (May 23, 2011)"Comment-Other reasons", Daily Kos Retrieved May 26, 2011
- ^ Josh Gerstein "Defense slams secret evidence plan in NSA leak case", Politico, 2011-03-14, www.politico.com. Retrieved 2011-03-15
- ^ Drake pleads guilty to misdemeanor in NSA espionage case, Tricia Bishop, 06-10-2011
- ^ "Jesselyn Radack biography", GAP website, Retrieved 2011-6-10
- ^ Mike Scarcella (02-18-2009) "DOJ Prosecutors Replaced in Post-Trial Stevens Litigation". www.law.com, Retrieved 2011-03-12
- ^ Leah Nylen, (2010-10-12) "Judge Lifts Civil Contempt Finding Against Stevens Prosecutors - Main Justice", www.mainjustice.com. Retrieved 2011-03-12
- ^ Ellen Nakashima (2010 November)
"Checkpoint Washington - Setback in case against accused NSA leaker", Washington Post, voices.washingtonpost.com, Retrieved 2011-03-10
- ^ Josh Gerstein "U.S. seeks to seal info in NSA leak case". politico.com, Retrieved 2011-03-17
- ^ See other refs
- ^ The Huffington Post: Why Thomas Drake Is Not an Enemy of the State. May 19, 2011.
- ^ Shane, Scott (11 June 2010). "Obama Takes a Hard Line Against Leaks to Press". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
- ^ Josh Gerstein "Defense slams secret evidence plan in NSA leak case". www.politico.com, Retrieved 2011-03-17
- ^ Government's Motion for an In Camera Hearing, February 25, 2011, from "USA v Drake selected case files", from Federation of American Scientists, Project on Government Secrecy, www.fas.org Retrieved on 2011-03-17
- ^ Josh Gerstein "Justice Department plans to use secret code in leak trial". www.politico.com, Retrieved 2011-03-17
- ^ See under "external links," the FAS website of the court documents
- ^ Josh Gerstein (2011-03-17) "U.S. seeks to seal info in NSA leak case", www.politico.com, Retrieved 2011-03-17
- ^ "Exhibits A and B, for Document 71: Defense Response to Government's Motion to Exclude Discussion of Overclassification". March 11, 2011, retrieved from the website of the Federation of American Scientists, Project on Government Secrecy, "USA v Drake selected case files", www.fas.org. Retrieved 2011-03-17
- ^ Steven Aftergood (May 12, 2011) "In Drake Leak Case, Govt Seeks to Block Unclassified Info"
- ^ "Government's Reply in Support of Motion to Exclude Evidence of Overclassification". FAS, Retrieved March 18, 2011
- ^ a b "Transcript of Sentencing Proceeding, United States of America v. Thomas A. Drake" (PDF). United States District Court of Maryland. July 15, 2011. Retrieved August 8, 2013.
- ^ Episode #17135: A Leak of Their Own - License to Spill
- ^ "cryptoparty". SoundCloud. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
- ^ "NSA Whistleblower Discusses Intelligence Community".
- ^ WNYC June 26, 2013, The Takeaway. available at http://www.thetakeaway.org/2013/jun/26/nsa-leaker-thomas-drake-edward-snowdens-case/ accessed 7-7-13
- ^ "Blowing the Whistle: Former US Official Reveals Risks Faced by Internal Critics", by Mark Hertsgaard, Felix Kasten, Marcel Rosenbach, and Holger Stark; Der Spiegel 05/22/2016
- ^ Thomas Drake (NSA Whistleblower) speaks at Restore the Fourth DC. YouTube. 10 July 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
- ^ "Stand Up For Truth video -- University of London, Birkbeck | Stand Up For Truth". standupfortruth.org. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
- ^ Whistleblowers, Part Two: Thomas Drake. YouTube. 9 June 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
- ^ "Should the NSA be dismantled? An interview with whistle-blower Thomas Drake - Vocativ". Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved September 19, 2013.
- ^ Bundesnachrichtendienst "ein Wurmfortsatz der NSA", FAZ July 4, 2014
- ^ "Ex-NSA-Mitarbeiter Drake: BND unterstützte Drohnenkrieg der USA". Der Spiegel. 4 July 2014. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
- ^ "Secret Sources: Whistleblowers, National Security, and Free Expression". PEN American Center. 22 October 2015. Retrieved 2015-11-26.
- ^ Media, Insofar (2014-02-21), The Whistler: International Launch, retrieved 2020-06-25
- ^ Media, Insofar (2015-01-07), Thomas Drake in The Whistleblower Interview Project, retrieved 2020-06-25
- ^ Andy Worthington (2015-09-15). "28 Veterans of US Intelligence Fight Back Against CIA Claims That the Bush Torture Program Was Useful and Necessary". Archived from the original on 2015-09-28.
- ^ "Silenced 2014". IMDB. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
- ^ "screenings schedule". Silence Documentary Film. Reframed Pictures, James Spione, et al. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
- ^ "Silenced: A James Spione whistleblower documentary". Silenced Film 2014. Reframed Pictures, James Spione, et al. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
- ^ "PBS Frontline, "United States of Secrets "". PBS. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
External links
- Thomas A. Drake at IMDb
- USA v. Thomas A. Drake: Selected Case Files, from the Federation of American Scientists
- Silenced: documentary trailer published via YouTube
- IMDB: Silenced 2014 documentary's listing on Internet Movie Database