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Ex-NSA Leaker's Advice To Snowden: "Always Check Your Six"
"Be lawyered up to the max... find a place where it's going to be that much more difficult for the US to make arrangements for his return... and and always check your six," is the warning (advice) that Thomas Drake offers Edward Snowden, adding that, "it's now validation of this vast, now systemic, industrial-scale leviathan surveillance system."
As Reuters reports, Drake is one of the few people who understands from personal experience what the NSA Whistleblower is going through - the 56-year-old was prosecuted under the Espionage Act in 2010 for allegedly revealing classified information about the agency's sweeping warrantless wire-tapping program. The government later dropped all but a misdemeanor charge.
"Always make sure you know what's behind you," he adds, "when you offer up information about the dark side of the surveillance state they don't take too kindly to it." Drake, whose life was "essentially destroyed," is now a technical expert at an Apple store, but he still believes what he did was worth it, having no doubts: "Is freedom worth it? Is liberty worth it? Is not living in a surveillance society worth it? You've got to stand up and defend the rights and the freedoms that prevent that from actually happening."
Via Reuters,
Thomas Drake is one of the few people who understands from personal experience what the future may hold for Edward Snowden, the 29-year-old former NSA contractor who exposed the U.S. government's top secret phone and Internet surveillance programs.
His advice for Snowden: "Be lawyered up to the max and find a place where it's going to be that much more difficult for the United States to make arrangements for his return," Drake said. "And always check six, as we said when I used to be a flyer in the Air Force. Always make sure you know what's behind you."
Drake, a 56-year-old former intelligence official at the National Security Agency, was prosecuted under the Espionage Act in 2010 for allegedly revealing classified information about the agency's sweeping warrantless wire-tapping program. The government later dropped all but a misdemeanor charge.
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"When you offer up information about the dark side of the surveillance state they don't take too kindly to it," he said. "They want to stay in the shadows."
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Drake, one of six people indicted for leaking secret information since President Barack Obama took office in 2009, said the FBI investigated him because it believed he was the source of a New York Times story published in December 2005 that first revealed the NSA's wire-tapping program. He says he was not the source of that information, and 10 felony counts against him were dropped when he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of mishandling government information.
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"My life was turned upside down and inside out," said Drake, who now earns an hourly wage as a technical expert at an Apple store. "I know what it's like to live in a surveillance state because the surveillance state was on me, riding me, for so many years. They obviously wanted to do me in. It was relentless. I wouldn't want any American to go through it."
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Drake, who resigned from the NSA in 2008, said the data released by Snowden validated concerns he began raising internally as early as 2002 about a huge spike in domestic surveillance after the September 11, 2001, hijacking attacks.
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"None of it surprises me," said Drake. "What you're seeing here is simply the continuation of what was done in absolute secrecy after 9/11. Those programs were put in place and simply expanded."
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Drake said he was still suffering the consequences of his actions. "My life was essentially destroyed," Drake said, noting that the case took a terrible financial and personal toll. He lost his retirement savings and went into debt as his legal bills approached $100,000.
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Asked if he still believes what he did was worth it, Drake had no doubts: "Is freedom worth it? Is liberty worth it? Is not living in a surveillance society worth it?"
"If you don't want to live it, then you've got to stand up and defend the rights and the freedoms that prevent that from actually happening," he said.
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Fortunately for the few conservatives of the Alma Mater, fraud Obama did not attend the University of Illinois.
It really is terrible that we have boatloads of technicals getting H1Bs cause there are "no technical people in the US" and this chap works in an Apple store...
While all the little piggies still feed at the trough.
Perhaps NSA could do a little better job on public relations. Say, send people coupons for sweet deals, based on their analysis of your buying patterns, behavior, political views, sexual orientation, health records, geographic location, travel, etc.
Better yet, link directly to the Fed, so they simply go in and buy the sweet deal for you w/ BennyBux, ship it UPS / FEDEX and blammo, there it is on your doorstep. Everyday will be like Christmas and you won't even have to think about it ...
Say, a new battle rifle! How thoughtful of those guys, just what I wanted !
Slough
by John Betjeman
Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough
It isn't fit for humans now,
There isn't grass to graze a cow
Swarm over, Death!
Come, bombs, and blow to smithereens
Those air-conditioned, bright canteens,
Tinned fruit, tinned meat, tinned milk, tinned beans
Tinned minds, tinned breath.
Mess up the mess they call a town –
A house for ninety-seven down
And once a week for half-a-crown
For twenty years,
And get that man with double chin
Who'll always cheat and always win,
Who washes his repulsive skin
In women's tears,
And smash his desk of polished oak
And smash his hands so used to stroke
And stop his boring dirty joke
And make him yell.
But spare the bald young clerks who add
The profits of the stinking cad;
It's not their fault that they are mad,
They've tasted Hell.
It's not their fault they do not know
The birdsong from the radio,
It's not their fault they often go
To Maidenhead
And talk of sports and makes of cars
In various bogus Tudor bars
And daren't look up and see the stars
But belch instead.
In labour-saving homes, with care
Their wives frizz out peroxide hair
And dry it in synthetic air
And paint their nails.
Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough
To get it ready for the plough.
The cabbages are coming now;
The earth exhales.
who has the balls to make this outrage go viral? not this generation. occupy was a hipster hangout. they don't want to risk anything even when they have nothing to lose. they need their bicycle helmets and hovering moms to take care of and watch out for them, the perfect candidate for the surveillance society.
Wonder what his testimony will be today? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYNXVgYhPOc
The office of the presidency has been relegated to the same level as little girls playing with dolls. How much power and influence could you expect a community organizer to bring to the office? Mr. Barry like his precessor, George W., is just playing President....
The competition to play for the NBA is fiercer than running for political office...
So basically we are living in a lawless state where due process and trials are no longer applicable to people should the state deem that necessary. ok.
the rule of law has given way to the law of rulers.
Correct.
Think of it like the old Wild West, with SS Stormtroopers instead of Indians.
Exactly.
The law is stronger than ever. Try breaking it and see what happens. However the law exists only to serve oligarchs not you. If you break it you will be face stomped for a start. If they break it ... crickets. Try to use the law against the oligarchs and you will be greatly disapointed. Its acually been that way for a long long long time. What has changed is the disinformation. They wanted us thinking the law was a two edged sword. Now they just want us to STFU.
You shouldn't mind contributing your tax dollars to those who use them to destroy the taxpayer.
three gold stars
You shouldn't mind contributing your tax dollars to those who use them to destroy the taxpayer.
This all gives new meaning to the term "Obama phone". I'm going to sign up for Obama Mail and Obama text messaging as well. Saves the NSA the trouble of intercepting as they transmit straight to head quarters. It's the patriotic thing to do.
I’m curious what the Carlyle Group was ultimately planning to do with this surveillance tech for commercial gain in the private sector, beyond BAH’s involvement with NSA. (Seems like it would be a great driver for an HFT algo). No doubt those plans have been jeopardized now too. I bet that’s being bantered about in the Carlyle Board Room a lot more than concerns over individual or national security.
Great headline this morning, Carlyle raising $4bn to buy ... housing !
Those guys are swell. Real Patriots.
off topic, funny:
Japanese Eye-Test - check your eyes:
http://homment.com/japan-eye-test
It is people like Snowden, Assange, & Manning that you actually want in charge, NOT OBAMA, BOEHNER, OR THE LIKES OF FEINSTEIN, that are like a gollum with their precious power! We are a country of laws, not one where these feral apes can blatantly twist words.
You live in an alternate universe, right?
Obummer has a drone with your name on it. Such a great man. Elected into office by a nation of imbeciles.
WOW ! a man worthy of so many good things in life... ... working at an APPLE store. is that good or bad ?!
OT but i've gotta say the ads on this site have gone to shit - pure unadulterated SHIT - too bad a site with some conviction has now gone Price to Earnings aware - and conviction free -
and can i say FUCK NO to President Christie - are you fucked up or what - mother fuckers - what kinda dope are they feeding people these days ? Mother Fucker !
The adds on this page reflect what you search through google. So if you don't like the adds clear your cookies or change what pages you look for.
nice try doc - not one porn ad on the page and thats 95% of my search activity -
Mine shows JM Bullion gold and silver. Ahhhh.....it's like monetary porn.
Use Ad Muncher. Mine is over a year out date and it still blocks nearly everything.
I don't trust Apple employees.
You get fucked over at the genius bar?
Although your account on here is annonymous, they are tracking your packets all the way back to your ISP and then back to your IP. Unless your spoofing your IP they know where your comments come from.
Who thought they didn't know that?
Perhaps in (n) days, when they finally nab Snowden, we will know the title of the next blockbuster movie, “(n) Days Of The Eagle”, the long awaited sequel to “Three Days Of The Condor”. Here’s to hoping Snowden is at least as agile and crafty as Joe Turner was in the end.
Honestly, what does that phrase "check your six" mean? Six? Someone please explain this to me. Thanks!
http://www.answers.com/topic/check-your-six
Think of a clock or a watch. You are facing 12 if you are standing on it. Behind you is the number six. Hence, WATCH YOUR BACK.
I'm still not clear...plz con't
Thank you! I had surmised something like that solely from the context, but I appreciate you making it clear!
Aren't we getting are freedom with AR15 that the guys in washinton are fighting so hard to protect. No database registery for guns but hey Zetabytes of survelance data on everyone of us...that is for our protection or is it for the coporate contractors who have bought our representatives.
NSA got your six...and your 12. Coming and going.
Who in Congress has got some balls to shut this POS Nazi mess down?
Anyone?
Here is an idea. everyone should start using words like Kill, Bomb, assasination, Ricin, Antrax, Allah, islam etc. in all their conversation and comminications and use a foreign server or call number that directs it back to US. That should kill this whole multibillion dollar Prizim program.
Snowden is an op. They want people to know that they have no privacy now. That will lessen the sting of RFID.
The kid's a dead man walking. 6 in the body and one in the back of the head. They know how to do that. They have been practicing.
The good news is that other nations are now going to route their information around the US. Systems adapt.
I am not a number, I am a free man!
These guys are too big, too shadowed, too rich and too protected to ever be taken down. They believe with all of their hearts that they are doing what is right for America. Much too big and powerful to take down. We will have to wait for them to do themselves in. That can take a long time and we or progeny will be the collateral damage. Eventually this will all be ashes.