Thomas Andrews Drake Thomas Andrews Drake ( born 1957 ) is a former senior executive of the U . S . National Security Agency ( NSA ) , a decorated United States Air Force and United States Navy veteran , and a whistleblower . In 2010 the government alleged that Drake " mishandled " documents , one of the few such Espionage Act cases in U . S . history . Drake ' s defenders claim that he was instead being persecuted for challenging the Trailblazer Project . He is the 2011 recipient of the Ridenhour Prize for Truth - Telling and co - recipient of the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence ( SAAII ) award . 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 pled to one misdemeanor count for exceeding authorized use of a computer ; Jesselyn Radack of the Government Accountability Project , who helped represent him , called it an act of " civil disobedience . " Biography . Drake ' s father was a World War II veteran and his mother a secretary for Pearl S . Buck . He entered the U . S . Air Force in 1979 , becoming an Airborne Voice Processing Specialist , with a fluency in German , and went on ELINT ( electronic intelligence ) missions . It was in that capacity that he encountered the surveillance state of East Germany and the Stasi , which informed his worldview and to which he compares developments in the United States since the September 11 attacks . Drake left the Air Force in 1989 . He was also in the U . S . Navy , where he analyzed intelligence for the National Military Joint Intelligence Center . According to the Washington Post , he also at one time worked with the CIA . In 1989 Drake began work as an NSA contractor , evaluating software . As a contractor , he worked on projects like JACKPOT and LIBRARIAN , becoming an expert in the quality - testing of software and working on a system for measuring the quality of computer code at the NSA . Drake also continued his academic studies . In 2000 he was hired as a software systems quality specialist and management and information technology consultant for Columbia , Maryland - based Costal Research & Technology Inc . ( CRTI ) , a wholly owned subsidiary of Alexandria , Virginia - based Computer Systems Management , Inc . ( CSMI ) . In late 2001 he went to work at the NSA as a full - time employee at the Signals Intelligence Directorate at Fort Meade , Maryland , with his actual first day on the job as an NSA employee being September 11 , 2001 . In 2002 , he became a Technical Director for Software Engineering Implementation within the Cryptologic Systems and Professional Health Office . In 2003 , Drake became a Process Portfolio Manager within NSA ' s newly formed Directorate of Engineering . He held a Top Secret security clearance . During the congressional investigations into 9 / 11 , he testified about NSA failures . In 2006 he was reassigned to the National Defense University , where he became the NSA Chair and an Assistant Professor of Behavioral Sciences within the Industrial College of the Armed Forces ( ICAF ) . Drake was forced to leave the NDU in 2007 when his security clearance was suspended , and he resigned from the NSA the next year . Drake then went to work at Strayer University but was forced from that job after his indictment of April 2010 . He found work at an Apple store . He then founded Knowpari Systems , a consulting firm . In 2011 Drake was awarded the Ridenhour Prize for Truth Telling and was co - recipient of the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence ( SAAII ) award . Accepting the SAAII award he said , with references to an 1857 speech of Frederick Douglass : Whistleblowing on Trailblazer , and government response . 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 . He became part of the " minority " that favored ThinThread for several reasons , including its theoretical ability to protect privacy while gathering intelligence . Trailblazer , on the other hand , not only violated privacy , in violation of the Fourth Amendment , and other laws and regulations , it also required billions of dollars , dwarfing the cost of ThinThread . Drake eventually became " disillusioned , then indignant " regarding the problems he saw at the agency . 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 . 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 . 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 . He also kept in contact with Diane S . Roark , a staffer for the Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee of the U . S . Congress ( the House committee responsible for oversight of the executive branch ' s intelligence activities ) . Roark was the " staff expert " on the NSA ' s budget , and the two of them had met in 2000 . In September 2002 , Roark and three former NSA officials , William Binney , J . Kirk Wiebe , and Ed Loomis , filed a DoD Inspector General report regarding problems at NSA , including Trailblazer . Drake was a major source for the report , and gave information to DoD during its investigation of the matter . Roark tried to notify her superior , then - Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence , Porter Goss . She also attempted to contact William Rehnquist , the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court at the time . In addition , Roark made an effort to inform Vice President Dick Cheney ' s legal counsel David Addington , who had been a Republican staff colleague of hers on the committee in the 1980s . Addington was later revealed by a Washington Post report to be the author of the controlling legal and technical documents for the Bush administration ' s warrantless surveillance program , typing the documents on a Tempest - shielded computer across from his desk in room 268 of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and storing them in a vault in his office . Roark got no response from all three men . NSA own inquiry and acknowledgement . By 2003 , the NSA Inspector General ( IG ) had declared Trailblazer an expensive failure . It cost more than 1 billion dollars . 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 . Eventual whistleblowing . In a 2011 " New Yorker " article , journalist Jane Mayer wrote that Drake felt the NSA was committing serious crimes against the American people , on a level worse than what president Nixon had done in the 1970s . Drake reviewed the laws regarding disclosure of information , and decided that if he revealed unclassified information to a reporter , then the worst thing that would happen to him was probably that he would be fired . In November 2005 , Drake contacted Siobhan Gorman of " The Baltimore Sun " newspaper , sending her emails through Hushmail and discussing various topics . 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 . 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 . 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 " . 2007 FBI raids . 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 . Binney claims they pointed guns at his wife and himself . Wiebe said it reminded him of the Soviet Union . 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 ( ) . The FBI tried to get Roark to testify against Drake ; she refused . Reporter Gorman was not contacted by the FBI . Drake initially cooperated with the investigation , telling the FBI about the alleged illegality of the NSA ' s activities . 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 " . In 2009 a new prosecutor came on the case , William Welch II , and changed the indictment . Some charges were removed , as was any naming of ' co - conspirators ' . The new case only contained charges against Drake . Prosecutors wanted Drake to plead guilty , but he refused . He believed that he was innocent of the charges against him . The government wanted him to help prosecute the other whistleblowers . He refused this as well . He later explained his motivations to the Ridenhour Prizes organization : Indictment . In April 2010 , Drake was indicted by a Baltimore , Maryland grand jury on the following charges : The indictment contained many other allegations ; 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 at all under , the " SIGINT " statute . 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 . The indictment also did not list the names of Gorman or Roark , but they were confirmed by reporters ( i . e . Hosenball of " Newsweek " ) . Roark ' s lawyer claimed that the indictment contains a " mischaracterization of the facts " about the relationship between her client and Drake . Roark herself later spoke out in support of Drake and the other whistleblowers of the Trailblazer project . 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 Regular Meetings " , " Volume is our Friend " , " Trial and Testing " , and " Collections Sites " . " What a Success " was declassified a few months after Drake was indicted , and should never have been classified in the first place , according to an official complaint filed by J . William Leonard , a former director of the Information Security Oversight Office . " Regular Meetings " was marked " UNCLASSIFIED " and posted on NSANet but prosecution argues the defendant should have known it was really classified . Drake ' s team also argued that the latter three of the five named documents were part of a collection of thousands of unclassified papers related to the DoD Inspector General Report ( mentioned above ) . Drake ' s defense attorneys argued this meant that the defendant brought home the material accidentally , not " willfully " . 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 " . 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 . 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 . 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 . Drake was represented by James Wyda and Deborah Boardman , federal public defender s . 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 . 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 , 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 . Federal Judge Richard D . Bennett was responsible for hearing handling the case , and initially set trial for June 2011 . 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 . Jesselyn Radack , of the Government Accountability Project , has also discussed the case . The U . S . government publicly stated that the prosecution of Thomas Drake was not intended to deter government employees from reporting problems . “ Whistle - blowers are the key to many , many department investigations — we don ’ t retaliate against them , we encourage them , ” Matthew A . Miller , a spokesman for the Justice Department , said . “ This indictment was brought on the merits , and nothing else . ” 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 " Politico " and others . This was done under the legal auspices of the Classified Information Procedures Act , which attempts in theory to prevent the release of classified information during open trials . The prosecution also moved to use the controversial " silent witness rule " , in which exhibits are hidden from the public by the use of " code words " in court . The government had only attempted to use the rule a handful of times previously ; its legality has been challenged under the Fifth and Sixth Amendment s . The government also moved to restrict cross - examination of witnesses , to restrict jurors from reading the Siobhan Gorman " Baltimore Sun " articles about problems with NSA and Trailblazer , and to prevent the defense from making arguments or introducing evidence to the courtroom about whistleblowing or overclassification . 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 . 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 . Government arguments . Referring to Siobahn Gormam ' s " Baltimore Sun " news stories , the government legally pled 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 ; . 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 . The government also argued that any discussion at trial of the legal concept of whistle - blowing would likewise be irrelevant to the charges . Final Disposition . In early June , shortly after the May 22 , 2011 6 pm 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 misdemeanor of misusing the agency ’ s computer system . Drake was sentenced to one year of probation and community service . At the July sentencing hearing the presiding judge , Richard D . Bennett of the Federal District Court , issued harsh words for the government , saying that it was " unconscionable " to charge a defendant with a list of serious crimes that could have resulted in 35 years in prison only to drop all of the major charges on the eve of trial . The judge also rejected the government ' s request for a large fine noting that Drake had been financially devastated , losing his $ 154 , 600 job at the NSA and his pension . Since 2012 . Drake appeared on " The Daily Show " on August 6 , 2012 , to talk about the history of his case , and in September sent an audio message of support to CryptoParty . On March 15 , 2013 , Drake spoke at a National Press Club Luncheon about the national intelligence community and its attitude towards whistle - blowing . Drake reportedly inspired Edward Snowden to leak information on the NSA spying program PRISM in June 2013 . During an extended interview with investigative reporter George Knapp on Coast - to - Coast AM , Drake confirmed that psychic intelligence — warning of planes hitting the twin towers of the World Trade Center — had been shared with U . S . intelligence prior to 9 / 11 . The source of the psychic information was identified as Christopher Robinson , a British precognitive psychic known as the " Dream Detective , " confirming information previously published by STARstream Research . Drake has become an activist against the surveillance state , frequently giving interviews and speaking at events such as Restore the Fourth . 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 . " In a September 2013 interview Drake re - affirmed 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 . The 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 . Most prosecutions are for “ delivery ” of classified information to a third party — something that Mr Drake was not charged with . This particular portion of the Espionage Act was created in 1950 during the Second Red Scare , as part of the McCarran Internal Security Act . Anthony Russo and Daniel Ellsberg were the first to be prosecuted for the “ retention ” of what came to be known as the Pentagon Papers which Ellsberg gave to the " New York Times " , eventually resulting in another landmark Espionage Act case in 1971 , " New York Times Co . v . United States " . The prosecution of Russo and Ellsberg was dismissed in 1972 because of government misconduct . The second prosecution was of Samuel Loring Morison in 1985 , a Navy analyst who sold satellite photographs to " Jane ' s Defense Weekly " ; he was later pardoned by President Bill Clinton . The third was the American Israel Public Affairs Committee case in 2005 , " United States v . Franklin , Rosen , and Weissman " .