On Sunday, the CBS news show 60 Minutes ran a story on accused National Security Agency whistleblower Tom Drake. Mr. Drake worked as a senior executive at the NSA in the years following 9/11 after a long career in the intelligence community. At the NSA, Mr. Drake grew increasingly bewildered and frustrated by the waste in a NSA modernization program. He first raised concerns to his superiors at the NSA, then intelligence committees in Congress, and a confidential complaint with the Department of Defense Inspector General. When the IG investigation was given a “classified” stamp, effectively blocking the modernization debacle from public view, Mr. Drake decided to begin anonymously leaking his story to the press. He is being charged under the Espionage Act of 1917.
The plaintiffs, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, and the Immigration Justice Clinic at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security claim that the agency is withholding information regarding a controversial fingerprinting program. DHS refuses to release emails and metadata dealing with a program called Secure Communities that checks the fingerprints of people brought in by law enforcement against databases of dangerous aliens. The plaintiffs argue that the legality of forcing jurisdictions to transmit data to a federal agency is questionable. Furthermore, a U.S. District Judge has already ordered the government to include metadata in releases associated with this case. The linked article also notes that the FOIA resources at Immigration and Customs Enforcement are inadequate for dealing with the information requested in this case. (more…)
