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![]() Though the criminal defense team for Drake was headed by the federal public defender’s office in Maryland, his case drew the attention of dozens of legal experts and advocates. Nonetheless, Drake faced the possibility of decades in prison. Despite years investigating him, the DOJ had no evidence of improper disclosure of classified materials. history where the government used the Act to go after someone for allegedly mishandling classified materials – Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg was the first.ĭespite statements to the press to the contrary, the DOJ did not charge Drake with disclosing classified information to a reporter, but, rather, accused him of improper retention of classified information. The officials pressured Drake multiple times to take a plea deal, threatening him with spending the “rest of his natural life behind bars” if he didn’t – but Drake “refused to plea bargain with the truth.”ĭrake hoped that the new Obama administration – one that had touted the importance of federal whistleblowers during the 2008 campaign – would reverse direction and cease the use of the criminal justice system to go after whistleblowers, but after being under a cloud for two and a half years, the DOJ finally indicted him in April 2010.Ĭharged under 10 separate counts, Drake faced 5 charges under the Espionage Act – a 1917 piece of legislation intended to be used against spies. Knowing he had done nothing wrong, Drake cooperated with the pre-textual “leak” investigation until he realized that the purpose was to retaliate against him. ![]() Justice Department officials interrogated Drake for hours on several occasions. The government conduced an armed raid of Drake’s home, interrogated him for hours, confiscated his personal notes and computers, and threatened him with spending “the rest of his natural life behind bars.” The Department of Justice (DOJ) indicted Drake under the Espionage Act with improper “retention” – not disclosure – of allegedly classified information, and Drake faced decades in prison. Reprisal against Drake was then ratcheted up to the maximum: criminal prosecution under the Espionage Act of 1917. Finally, Drake made legal disclosures of unclassified information to a Baltimore Sun reporter, who wrote a series of award-winning articles that exposed the billion-dollar NSA boondoggle. After his cooperation with DoD IG, which validated his concerns, Drake became the target of a “leak” investigation related to the infamous NSA warrantless wiretapping scandal–despite the fact that he had nothing to do with the “leak.”Īfter reaching out to multiple proper oversight bodies, nothing changed. He was increasingly isolated, singled-out, transferred away from projects, and marginalized. Management took aim at Drake’s career by removing his responsibilities and shifting him to a meaningless position. When Drake saw mass waste and abuse in the billions of dollars spent on Operation Stellar Wind, he took his concerns to his superiors at NSA, to Congress and to the NSA and Department of Defense Inspectors General (DoD IG). A ten-year veteran of the Air Force (specializing in intelligence), he served as a CIA analyst and contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA) for 12 years before joining the Agency full time in 2001. Thomas Drake is a whistleblower who has dedicated his life to safeguarding his country.
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