What might have happened if the former defense contractor Ed Snowden had decided to stay here and had taken up his complaint within the official chain of command?
It’s what former National Security Agency (NSA) official Thomas Drake, one of Snowden’s idols, did. After September 11th, Drake became uncomfortable about the agency’s top-secret counterterrorism programs. He grew to believe that the NSA’s actions, which included warrantless wiretapping “subverted the Constitution.”
Drake took his complaint to the highest levels of the NSA, to Congress, the Pentagon and finally the press. He was eventually indicted by the Justice Department and faced up to 35 years in prison. But eventually, the charges against Drake were dropped and he pleaded guilty to a minor misdemeanor.
Drake is on the program today to discuss his support for Snowden and his concerns about the NSA’s actions following 9/11.