Exclusive Interview: NSA whistleblower on what he'd do differently now

WASHINGTON, May 7 (UPI) -- The high-profile cases of Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning have turned a microscope onto the U.S. intelligence community, launching a serious discussion on the balance of civil liberties in a post-9/11 world.

Secondary to Snowden and Manning's revelations, but perhaps no less important, was the treatment of the whistleblowers themselves: Snowden lives exiled, and without a passport, in Russia, while Manning faces 35 years in federal prison. Both saw grievous abuses within the U.S. government that they felt must be revealed, and both paid for their consciences with their freedom.

Thomas Drake, a former NSA executive, was more fortunate. Drake witnessed what he said were privacy and Fourth Amendment violations, as well as a massive waste of funding on the Trailblazer project, which collected intelligence data off the Internet. He initially took his concerns to internal authorities, including the NSA Inspector General and the Defense Department Inspector General, then to the staff of the House Intelligence and Oversight Committees. He also passed his concerns on to a reporter at the Baltimore Sun, carefully avoiding divulging classified information.

In 2007, Drake's home was raided by the FBI, in 2010, he was indicted by a grand jury and charged with illegally holding sensitive information, obstruction of justice and making a false statement. All along, he refused to plead guilty or help the government prosecute fellow whistleblowers.

The 10 charges filed against him under the Espionage Act were ultimately dropped, in exchange for a guilty plea on a misdemeanor count of misusing the NSA's computer system.

Drake has since worked as a privacy activist, speaking out against the surveillance state. In an interview with UPI this week, he talked about what it takes to blow the whistle on the U.S. government and just how difficult it is to do.

(This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.)

UPI: What would you have done differently?

Drake: I would not have spoken with the FBI at all. I was speaking to them to report high crimes and misdemeanors; I was expecting them to come to my house for quite some time. I would have hired an attorney sooner.

Even though I made a conscious choice [to go through the proper channels], I didn't have to. Under the NSA portion [of the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act], I could go directly to the Department of Defense or directly to Congress and not inform the NSA. That was the statute that you would exercise if you had a responsible belief as a whistleblower. Now there's huge cutout: Any national security position is not covered by that act.

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Exclusive Interview: NSA whistleblower on what he'd do differently now