“The very word secrecy is repugnant in a free and open society.” —President John F. Kennedy

The NSA scandal is not phony Mr. President, it is very real. But neither is it a real scandal such as, for example, Benghazi. The NSA is the prime example of many agencies with clandestine power that have grown since their inception; most after World War II. Some, like the NSA, really grew after 911. They all misclassify, with impunity, 10 times as much as the law allows. They are exactly what you were looking to find for your fundamental transformation. You, Mr. President, are the tyrant they had prepared and waited for. The marriage of tyrant and secret rogue system took place January 20, 2009.

This is only a scantily read Blog post, Mr. President. It will only grab a few obvious handles. But make no mistake, Mr. President, the subject is a blockbuster book and someone is writing it.

While we will not cover much today, what we cover in Part VI—Secret Spying On Americans is profoundly important. We’ll take an in-depth look at the NSA whistleblower and American Patriot Thomas Drake who you falsely charged with espionage, Mr. President, and your undercover agents, accusers and prosecutors manufactured evidence to frame Mr. Drake. While Mr. Drake successfully disproved the false charges, your team nearly destroyed the lives of virtually everyone who knew Mr. Drake on a personal or professional level. I invite you to take a seat, Mr. President, as I share Thomas Drake’s story with my readers.

Thomas Drake spoke to the National Press Club, March 15, 2013. His speech was titled, “In the Shadowlands of the Secrecy State: Preying On the First Amendment”

Here are a few high points before the You Tube presentation of the speech:

“The ‘Secrecy System’ is not to be used to cover government illegality, wrongdoing, hiding administrative inefficiency and ineffectiveness or health and safety; fraud waste and abuse. The ‘Secrecy system’ has become so corrupted, it is now being used routinely to do precisely that under the color and cover of law and when the color and cover of law is no longer sufficient, ‘Then we’ll just make up some rules.’ It’s unprecedented; I mean it is really unprecedented. This Administration has used the espionage act as a means and mechanism to prosecute 7 Americans for non-spy activity—Non-spy! When you are painted with the espionage act, you are put into the same category historically as the Aldrich Ames’ of the world. …

“We knew none of this was necessary. We knew there was no need to ever go to the ‘dark side.’ We knew that American exceptionalism was not getting away with breaking the law because we’re Americans. The exceptionalism is that the fundamental basis for our security is our liberties and freedoms. …

“There was never any need, despite what happened on 911 to ever have gone to the dark side. There was never any need—at that time—to violate in such a vast and egregious manner the foreign intelligence surveillance act and turn the United States of America into the equivalent of foreign nations with the purpose of secret surveillance. Why? Because they would tell me the following, ‘Tom, you don’t understand. We live in extraordinary times. We live in exigent conditions that require extraordinary means and exigent means by which we’ll deal with the threat. If we need to violate the rights of ordinary Americans, hey they have nothing to worry about if they have done nothing wrong.’ The problem is we don’t get to decide what it is that we’ve done wrong. …

“Did you know there is a plan right now in the Obama Administration to provide the intelligence community—the intelligence establishment—with any and all financial records. Any and All. What the heck is there left to defend? I mean if you end up taking away the essence of everything there is about you because there might just be a 1% or .01% chance that you’re doing something wrong . . . What’s happening is that we are in a pre-crime space where anything is suspicious—any and all data. I’m telling you that, in my case, I was utterly framed. Not only was information mischaracterized, it was misrepresented and, at times, even doctored. What does that tell you? Because it’s all done in secret; they’re the ones holding it. You become a target of the government. Remember I’ve been living this. I’ve lived this for five years.”

This is one of the compelling and important stories of our time. After about 6 minutes of National Press Club introductions, Tom Drake spoke for 14 minutes and answered questions for 40 minutes. Again, what you are about to watch is profoundly compelling and important.