Former National Security Agency (NSA) official Thomas Drake, who is being prosecuted under the Espionage Act for allegedly "retaining" allegedly "classified" information (deemed so AFTER the evidence was seized from his house and subject to a Forced Classification Review), was busy at work at the Apple Store. Attorney General Eric Holder was at the iPhone table.
Drake said,
Attorney General Holder [Holder looks up]--I'm Thomas Drake, the former National Security Agency official who's been in the news.
Holder looked directly at him.
Drake then asked,
Do you know why they have come after me?
Holder answered,
Yes, I do.
Drake asked,
But do you know the rest of the story?
Holder looked away, and then just left the store with his small entourage, including his security detail.
In the movie version, this would have been much more climactic, but this is real life. Contrary to the criminal case against Tom Tamm, at least here, Holder didn't disclaim knowing anything about it.
Instead of tips of Tweets, please sign the petition asking for accountability in the Thomas Drake case.
This reminds me of when I was a target of a federal criminal "leak" investigation under Bush. A senior Justice Department criminal division official showed up uninvited (he did not live in the neighborhood) at the block party I was hosting. I said nothing as his kids played on the Moon Bounce. It was all too surreal. I later wished I had waddled my pregnant soccer-mom self up and asked,
Hey, do you realize that I'm a criminal target and that you guys have been calling me a traitor and turncoat? You pushed me out of the Justice Department, told my new employer that I'm a criminal, and have been conducting a vicious smear campaign against me?
Thomas Drake is facing criminal charges because he did not lie about massive waste and illegalities at the NSA. Even more reckless, he dared to complaint about it--to his bosses, Inspectors General, and the House and Senate intelligence committees. Yet after The New Yorker's bombshell expose and a powerful segment on 60 Minutes, there has been only radio silence from the government--and the MSM.
Unlike the usual smears that the whistleblower is vengeful, crazy, or doesn't know what he's talking about, the government has been oddly . . . silent.
That's because what they're doing is indefensible. Drake is being prosecuted for allegedly "retaining" 5 items that are allegedly "classified": Two documents on his computer, which were published on the NSA intranet, and three supposedly-protected documents that were in part or in whole related to a Department of Defense Inspector General investigation in which he served as the primary material witness.
Daniel Ellsberg, the first man charged under the Espionage Act with mishandling classified information recently noted that Drake's trial is to begin on June 13th, the 40th anniversary of when Ellsberg released the Pentagon Papers. Great way to close the loop on that one, President Obama!
No wonder Holder had nothing to say.
