By BRYAN RAHIJA
In what amounts to a huge win for whistleblowers, the Justice Department agreed yesterday to drop ten felony counts against National Security Agency (NSA) lamplighter Thomas Drake.
Drake was being prosecuted under a creative use of the Espionage Act despite the fact that he is exactly the kind of whistleblower who deserves protection.
As the The New York Times' Scott Shane writes, "The deal represented the almost complete collapse of the government’s effort to make an example of Drake."
"This is a victory for national security whistleblowers and against corruption inside our intelligence agencies," said Jesselyn Radack of the Government Accountability Project (GAP), a whistleblower advocacy group that represents Drake. "The prosecution's case was built on sand and crumbled under the weight of the truth."
Read more about the settlement between Drake and the Justice Department in The Boston Globe, Wired, and Secrecy News, and check out our analysis of why the Obama Administration's case against Drake was so misguided here and here.
Bryan Rahija edits POGO's blog.
I knew Tom Drake back in the 70's and he is a good man with great virtues, I am happy for him and for the truth
Posted by: terry shepard | Jun 14, 2011 at 10:50 PM