The morning after final passage of the USA Freedom Act, while some foes of mass surveillance were celebrating, Thomas Drake sounded decidedly glum. The new law, he told me, is \u201ca new spy program.\u201d It restarts some of the worst aspects of the Patriot Act and further codifies systematic violations of Fourth Amendment rights.<\/p>\n
Later on Wednesday, here in Oslo as part of a \u201cStand Up For Truth\u201d tour, Drake warned at a public forum that \u201cnational security\u201d has become \u201cthe new state religion.\u201d Meanwhile, his Twitter messages were calling the USA Freedom Act an \u201citty-bitty step\u201d \u2014 and a \u201cstop\/restart kabuki shell game\u201d that \u201cstarts w\/ restarting bulk collection of phone records.\u201d<\/p>\n
That downbeat appraisal of the USA Freedom Act should give pause to its celebrants. Drake is a former senior executive of the National Security Agency \u2014 and a whistleblower who endured prosecution and faced decades in prison for daring to speak truthfully about NSA activities. He ran afoul of vindictive authorities because he refused to go along with the NSA\u2019s massive surveillance program after 9\/11.<\/p>\n
Drake understands how the NSA operates from the highest strategic levels. He notes a telling fact that has gone virtually unacknowledged by anti-surveillance boosters of the USA Freedom Act: \u201cNSA approved.\u201d So, of course, did the top purveyor of mendacious claims about the U.S. government\u2019s surveillance programs \u2014 President Obama \u2014 who eagerly signed the \u201cUSA Freedom\u201d bill into law just hours after the Senate passed it.<\/p>\n
A comparable guardian of our rights, House Speaker John Boehner, crowed: \u201cThis legislation is critical to keeping Americans safe from terrorism and protecting their civil liberties.\u201d<\/p>\n
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