The NSA has had its own "whistleblowers," for years. Thomas Drake was charged
under the Espionage Act (a 1913 law that was written decades before the modern day debate on techno spying and surveillance) for retaining classified documents. Drake framed his own prosecution as “vindictive and malicious.” He was actually sentenced to a year of
probation. Two other NSA whistlerblowers, Binney and Wiebe, were accused of leaking classified information to the press and persecuted/prosecuted for their "crimes," as well. They continue to speak out against NSA and its use by the Federal Government as it invades the whole of the America citizenry without cause and for no established reason . . . . and in total secrecy. “What we've been saying all along has proven to be so. Our worst fears are being realized. We had a solution to this entire problem that would have avoided this whole mess.” – Kirk Wiebe
NSA Spying: Whistleblowers Claim Vindication On Surveillance State Warnings
NSA Spying: Whistleblowers Claim Vindication On Surveillance State Warnings
From the Huffington Post - another exfriend of H Obama:
For years, four former National Security Agency analysts
warned that the government was conducting widespread surveillance on domestic
communications. Their warnings were largely ignored.
But on Thursday, after The Guardian newspaper reported that
Verizon was turning over customer phone records to the intelligence agency as
part of a secret court order, Kirk Wiebe had a “feeling of great gratification.”
“What we've been saying all along has proven to be so,"
the 68-year-old whistleblower told The Huffington Post. "Our worst fears
are being realized.”
While at the NSA, Wiebe, along with Ed Loomis and Bill
Binney, created a computer program that could isolate large amounts of
information collected by the NSA while protecting Americans’ privacy. But the
NSA ignored their program, saying “it was too invasive,” Loomis said.
"We had a solution to this entire problem that would
have avoided this whole mess," Wiebe said.
Instead, the NSA chose Trailblazer, a multi-billion dollar
computer program that was supposed to revolutionize how the agency analyzed
communications data. Wiebe, Loomis and Binney called for an investigation into
Trailblazer, citing massive waste and fraud.
In response, Binney and Wiebe were accused of leaking
classified information to the press. The FBI raided their homes. Still, they
continued to speak publicly about their concerns about the NSA invading
Americans' privacy.
On Thursday, they had a moment of vindication as they gave
interviews criticizing the NSA over a domestic surveillance program they had
been warning about.
“This would appear to be the hardcore evidence that I think
a lot of people needed to start to believe it,” Binney, who was at the NSA for
nearly 40 years, told The Huffington Post. “It’s domestic spying, that’s what
it is, on a very large scale.”
A fourth NSA whistleblower, Thomas Drake, criticized the
court that authorized the surveillance.
“There is no need to call this the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court,” Drake said in an interview with Democracy Now on Thursday.
“Let’s just call it the surveillance court. It’s no longer about foreign intelligence.
It’s simply about harvesting millions and millions and millions of phone call
records and beyond.”
You will want to read the full article here:
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