May 23 2016, 6:31 p.m.
Image: The Guardian
THE GUARDIAN PUBLISHED a stunning new chapter in the saga of NSA whistleblowers on Sunday,
revealing a new key player: John Crane, a former assistant inspector general at
the Pentagon who was responsible for protecting whistleblowers, then forced to
become one himself when the process failed.
An article by Mark Hertsgaard, adapted from his new
book, Bravehearts: Whistle Blowing in the
Age of Snowden, describes
how former NSA official Thomas Drake went through proper channels in his
attempt to expose civil-liberties violations at the NSA — and was punished for
it. The article vindicates open-government activists who have long argued that
whistleblower protections aren’t sufficient in the national security realm.
It vindicates NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden who,
well aware of what happened to Drake, gave up his attempts to go through
traditional whistleblower channels – and instead handed over his trove of
classified documents directly to journalists.
And it adds to the vindication for Drake, who was
already a hero in the whistleblower’s pantheon for having endured a four-year persecution by the Justice Department that a judge called
“unconscionable.”
The case against Drake, who was initially charged
with 10 felony counts of espionage, famously disintegrated before trial – but not before he was
professionally and financially ruined. And now it turns out that going through
official channels may have actually set off the chain of events that led to his
prosecution.
Drake initially took his concerns about wasteful,
illegal and unconstitutional actions by the NSA to high-ranking NSA officials,
then to appropriate staff and members of Congress. When that didn’t work, he
signed onto a whistleblower complaint to the Pentagon inspector general made by
some recently retired NSA staffers. But because he was still working at the
NSA, he asked the office to keep his participation anonymous.
Now, Hertsgaard writes that Crane alleges that his
former colleagues in the inspector general’s office “revealed Drake’s identity
to the Justice Department; then they withheld (and perhaps destroyed) evidence
after Drake was indicted; finally, they lied about all this to a federal
judge.”
Crane’s growing concerns about his office’s conduct
pushed him to his breaking point, according to Hertsgaard. But his
supervisors ignored his concerns, gave him the silent treatment, and finally
forced him to resign in January 2013.
Due to Crane’s continued efforts, however, the
Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the Department of
Defense for its treatment of whistleblowers, and Hertsgaard tells The
Intercept that a public report on the results of the investigation is
expected next year.
Crane brings unprecedented evidence from inside the
system that ostensibly protects whistleblowers that the system isn’t
working. And defenders of the system can’t accuse him of having an outside
agenda. Crane has never taken a position for or against the NSA’s programs, or
made contact with Drake during the investigation.
“Crane kind of made it a point not to know him,”
Hertsgaard told the Intercept on Monday. “He didn’t want it to
become something personal.”
For him, it was about whistleblowing, Hertsgaard
explained, and the principal that “anonymity must be absolutely sacred.”
Snowden told the Guardian that Drake’s persecution was very much on his
mind when he decided to go outside normal channels. And he told theGuardian that
colleagues and supervisors warned him about raising his concerns, telling him
“you’re playing with fire.”
In his Guardian interview, Snowden
called for changes.
“We need iron-clad, enforceable protections for
whistleblowers, and we need a public record of success stories,” he said.
“Protect the people who go to members of Congress with oversight roles, and if
their efforts lead to a positive change in policy – recognize them for their
efforts. There are no incentives for people to stand up against an agency on
the wrong side of the law today, and that’s got to change.”
U.S. officials, including President Barack Obama and
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, have insisted that Snowden should and
could have gone through channels – and would have been heard.
“When people look at Edward Snowden, he’s the most
famous,” Hertsgaard told The Intercept. “What they don’t realize is
just how exceptional he is. He actually got his message out and he lived to
tell the tale. … that is highly unusual. In most cases, whistleblowers pay with
their lives to save ours.”
Hertsgaard writes in his book about many other
whistleblowers whose stories are slightly less dramatic, but no less important.
“I’m hoping campaign reporters will press Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders
and Donald Trump on this,” he said.
Related:
Top photo: Screengrab from Guardian interview with Crane.
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