DemocracyNow.org – National Security Agency whistleblower Thomas Drake faces 35 years in prison on espionage charges for allegedly leaking information to the press about the NSA’s overspending and failure to properly maintain its large trove of domestic spy data. “Espionage is the last thing my whistleblowing and first amendment activities and actions were all about,” Drake said recently in a public speech. “This has become the specter of a truly Orwellian world where whistleblowing has become espionage.” According to the New Yorker, the Obama administration has used the Espionage Act of 1917 to press criminal charges in five alleged instances of national security leaks—more such prosecutions than have occurred in all previous administrations combined. We play excerpts of Thomas Drake’s first public comments and talk to former Justice Department whistleblower, Jesselyn Radack. To download the video/audio podcast, read the transcript, or for more from Democracy Now! on this breaking story, visit: www.democracynow.org FOLLOW US: Facebook: www.facebook.com Twitter: @democracynow Please consider supporting independent media by making a donation to Democracy Now! today, visit www.democracynow.org
RamsesReturns
May 25, 2011 at 11:29 pm
@sherhak Well better late than never I suppose. A lot of damage has been done however. ~Cheers
sherhak
May 25, 2011 at 11:39 pm
@RamsesReturns no, she’s not. i’m the last one. i give up on him today, lol.
sherhak
May 26, 2011 at 12:20 am
@thatstheguy07 LOL
this guy is an american patriot. orwellian indeed.
thatstheguy07
May 26, 2011 at 12:23 am
Looks like Obama stopped by, and actually disliked the video.
greatbroad
May 26, 2011 at 12:41 am
Wanna hear something else Orwellian?
Senator Mark Kirk was on Morning Joe, explaining that BUDGET CUTS got us out of the Great Depression. (No mention of Roosevelt, WPA, New Deal)
MovingUpp
May 26, 2011 at 12:59 am
Why am I seeing more missing frames than I used to witness in video? (11:22 – 11:24)
AlembicPools
May 26, 2011 at 1:02 am
The Obama team should reverse this, and use it to their own advantage by publicly congratulating Mr. Drake. Anything that shows that the admin. is working diligently to discover and expose any and inequities within “the system” would translate favorably to the American public. A truly missed opportunity…
ella5024
May 26, 2011 at 1:48 am
Check out this interview by Julianne McKinney. She is another NSA Whistleblower: Google: Live Leak Julianne McKinney/ Greg Syzmanski interview.
ella5024
May 26, 2011 at 2:07 am
Read about Targeted Individuals, and Gangstalking. The NSA is really up to some things that you would never believe.
ella5024
May 26, 2011 at 2:44 am
I reported a child porn ring and got targeted. It’s not safe to report the criminals. All justice has broken down. The criminal Freemasons have taken over all the courts, and they can’t go against each other.
whole2th
May 26, 2011 at 2:54 am
Google “birth certificate Adobe Illustrator”
ReDiscover911. COM
Orwell’s predictions are manifest in this gangster (imposter) government
JHGesus
May 26, 2011 at 3:29 am
NERDS!
But really this guy stole documents to try to sell them to a paper. What a self-serving ass. This case was carried over from when Bush was in office too. Go read the actual New Yorker article that they site.
DrStrangelove666
May 26, 2011 at 3:53 am
@SpiritSphere12 yes, this current system of one wolf deciding for the sheep which sheep to eat is much better~
TheBlackKnight22
May 26, 2011 at 4:01 am
It’s not like every decision is made by Obama himself….
cooperbry
May 26, 2011 at 4:37 am
This is a turning point in America. If this prosecution is successful, the USA has officially become un-American.
oRuTRa45
May 26, 2011 at 5:30 am
@FlameStreak7 You must have seen I Am Legend. Good movie.
badgeless
May 26, 2011 at 5:36 am
War, torture, arrests without representation, lies, 1,000s of U.S. military lives and billions of $ spent on meaningless wars, a crackdown on citizens revealing the truth, on and on…,
All this by a President who promised “Hope and Change” and a president awarded a Noble Peace Prize.
Journalists won’t help us find the truth. It’s up to whistleblowers to save our democracy.
Justice? Obama said recently Bradley Manning “broke the law” Manning hasn’t been tried yet. What chance does Manning have?
deracinated1
May 26, 2011 at 5:51 am
@RamsesReturns tell that to Thom Hartmann……….he’s still livin’ the dream.
SpiritSphere12
May 26, 2011 at 6:08 am
America is a Republic not a Democracy! Democracy is 2 wolfs and a sheep voting on what’s for dinner.
FlameStreak7
May 26, 2011 at 6:26 am
What happens when you dog becomes a flesh-eating zombie? YOU KILL IT!!!! (yes, please tell me how implying the government is like a flesh-eating zombie is somehow too exaggerated.. lol.. anyone? anybody?… *crickets*… yep)
fal2grace
May 26, 2011 at 7:16 am
Thank you for posting this.
RamsesReturns
May 26, 2011 at 7:41 am
My final point here… “when good men do something’ and they then are prosecuted by a machine that is fueled by radical injustice, that person becomes one of us, and they deserve our full support. These people are the heros among us. If reporters are intimidated to pursue truth, then we are lost as a society. It is every free citizens duty not let a fallen soldier of truth or justice die out in an open field alone.
viciousprod
May 26, 2011 at 7:51 am
wow I think I have to go independent
nilesdpuckett
May 26, 2011 at 8:15 am
I think this is the second shot. Metaphorically.
RamsesReturns
May 26, 2011 at 8:49 am
Well Obama Lovers… when you have Amy Goodman giving up on Obama its over. She was the last of the left hold outs in the know. I hope people can now see how it all works, Bush, Obama, Clinton it’s all the same, they do the dirty work setting up of a totalitarian world regime. The media elects our bogus Presidents we don’t, we/most of you just jump on what ever bandwagons they set in motion. It has to stop, freedom has been the big loser here, when will we put our foot down?