Thomas Drake, a former intelligence guy at the NSA, was prosecuted under the Espionage Act in 2010 for allegedly revealing secrets about the agency’s massive warrantless wire-tapping program. The feds subsequently dropped all but a misdemeanor charge. He says the U.S. government has an “industrial-scale” surveillance system that “the Stasi in East Germany would have drooled over.”
His advice to Edward Snowden is: “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 make sure you know what’s behind you.” (5:53)
