"Two Whistleblowers Discuss Speaking Truth to Power and the Snowden Effect’s Impact on Our Society. Former NSA Senior Executive turned NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake, along with former ethics advisor to the Justice Department Jesselyn Radack, also a whistleblower, spoke at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma. Both Drake and Radack are featured in the Robert Greenwald film ""War on Whistleblowers.""
JESSEYLN RADACK, 42, is a former ethics adviser to the U.S. Dept. of Justice who turned whistleblower when she disclosed the FBI’s ethics violations in the investigation of John Walker Lindh, denied an attorney in the aftermath of his capture during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. An honors graduate of Brown University and Yale Law School, Radack is the director of National Security & Human Rights at the Government Accountability Project, the nation’s leading whistleblower support organization. A few days after this talk, Radack who represents Edward Snowden was detained while going through customs at London’s Heathrow Airport. She says she was subjected to ""very hostile questioning"" about Snowden and her trips to Russia. Radack also learned she might be on an ""inhibited persons list,"" a designation reportedly used by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to require further vetting of certain passengers. Radack is just one of a growing number of people who are being stopped, harassed and interrogated for their work around Snowden, WikiLeaks and National Security Agency documents.
THOMAS DRAKE, 56, is a former senior executive of the National Security Agency as well as a decorated veteran of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy. When Drake turned whistleblower, the U.S. government threw the Espionage Act at him and threatened him with 30 years in prison. Drake rejected several deals because he refused to “plea bargain with the truth,” and the U.S. Dept. of Justice eventually dropped all ten of its original charges.
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