This content details the secret, warrantless surveillance program initiated by the NSA after 9/11, its controversial legal justifications, internal dissent, eventual exposure through leaks, and its continuation under subsequent administrations.
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[Music]
at the national security agency they
called it the program
we are under emergency conditions
created after
extraordinary means are required to deal
with a threat collecting data on
american citizens you're looking for
unknown conspirators and the way they
devised to do that was to look at
everybody secrets at the highest levels
of government a whole surveillance
program without warrants designed for
domestic surveillance what we're doing
is lawful and i think is effective
through two presidencies highly
classified program he was collecting the
entire internet stream
he chose to keep the programs largely
intact that's not just data collection
that's digital surveillance i argued it
was unethical illegal and
unconstitutional and when this comes out
all hell is going to break loose
tonight on frontline
united states of secrets
part one
the program [Music]
the biggest leak of government secrets
ever began in december of 2012
with a single email delivered to an ip
address in rio de janeiro
glenn greenwald one of the world's
busiest journalists is sitting in his
home in rio and he sees
an email from someone he doesn't know
it's not a friend it's not his mum
and it just says
i've got some stuff you might be
interested in
he didn't use his name and he said
very cryptically and very vaguely that
he had information that he wanted to
discuss with me but could only do so if
i were to install encryption
guardian newspaper columnist and blogger
glenn greenwald didn't pay much
attention to the email
99 of the time it ends up that they're
crazy or delusional or the the story is
just not very good and this guy or girl
we don't know who it is um is persistent
so a few days later emails again and
says look glenn can you do this thing
and glenn still doesn't do it
this attempt basically to leak all of
these secrets
initially just go straight into the sand [Music]
[Music]
the source moved on
this time to berlin
he was soon exchanging emails with
american documentary filmmaker laura poitras
poitras
she'd been in contact for over a month
with a mysterious source who had reached
out to her using her encryption key and
using anonymous channels
and said he had a big story for her a
few weeks later in new york poitras met
national security investigative reporter
barton gellman at a greenwich village restaurant
restaurant
this was something she wanted to be
exceptionally careful about we agreed on
a cafe to meet at
we also i think both understood that
when we got there we'd moved to
someplace else
poitras asked gilman to vet the source
and meet him electronically
her source who became also my source
i needed to take
very special precautions in the usual
nsa style and so he called me brass
banner and he called himself vrx which
means truth teller in latin
through sophisticated encrypted messages
verax promised an unprecedented scoop
but it came with a warning
he believed he was risking his freedom
and possibly his life
and he warned me as well that
that if
if
the u.s intelligence community believed
that by getting rid of me they could
prevent this story from happening he
said that my life would be at risk
in late may varack surprised gilman and
poitras he sent them an
invitation he said your destination is
portraits wanted to go
barton gelman worried about a secret
meeting in a foreign country like china
decided not to
but poitras knew someone who might join her
her
that spring glenn greenwald arrived in
new york to deliver a speech
and we met that night in my hotel in the
lobby and
she showed me these emails that she had
been exchanging with this person who was
claiming that he was a national security
state insider
with access to very sensitive
information that he believed to be very
incriminating and and stated very
definitively that he wanted to turn it
over to her and to me
greenwald decided to join poitras
we all knew that this was incredibly
risky and uncertain but
in june poitras and greenwald headed to
i i think they're kind of quite excited
but there's also a sort of feeling that
maybe this is just the most terrific hoax
hoax
they were joined by ewan mccaskill a
veteran guardian reporter
at the time i didn't think it was for
real didn't take it that seriously and
thought it was a slightly obscure story
once they were finally airborne poitras
thought it was safe to share with
greenwald something the source had
securely sent to her
that's kind of quite a moment they're in
a secure space and so laura creeps
forward to go and see glenn
laura whips out this thumb drive and and
in a very sort of almost mischievous way
says you know guess what this is and and
told me that she had just received
a fairly large archive of documents they
kind of can't control their excitement
because this this is clearly the biggest
story um that anyone's worked on since
the pentagon papers in the 1970s and i
didn't sleep one second for the next 16
hours because the adrenaline made that
impossible to do
because i not only
saw the magnitude of the documents just
the sheer quantity the fact that we had
in our possession thousands not dozens
or hundreds but many thousands of top
secret nsa documents
that were about a wide range of
surveillance activities
um that came directly from some of the
most sensitive
areas of the agency i could see out the
corner of my eye
glenn with the light on throughout this
13-hour flight
you know reading on his laptop all the
time laura coming to see him having
chats and glenn getting more and more
excited we essentially couldn't believe
what it was that that we had and and
that was really the first time i think i
fully understood
that this was going to be unlike any
other story really ever in american
[Music]
in hong kong greenwald and the others
traveled to a hotel in kowloon [Music]
[Music]
snowden's instructions to glenn and
laura are like a kind of
magical mystery tour across for
something out of john mccarray
he tells him to go to a hotel the mirror
hotel in hong kong
and says that he will meet them in a
less trafficked part of the hotel next
to a shopping mall um
um
by a bench
and a crocodile
we had still no idea
of who he was what his age was what his
race was
um we knew nothing about him
demographically at all
uh and so the plan that he picked was
that he would be holding a rubik's cube
in his hand so that when we he entered
the room we would immediately know who
he was all of a sudden this guy comes
past with a rubik's cube um scramble up
which is part of the kind of code
but the man before them is not what they
expected they expected some grizzled cia veteran
veteran
wearing a blue blazer maybe with a bit
of dandruff with a tie
receding gray hair and they get this callow
callow
sort of fin limbed student type who looks
looks
as if he's just out of high school and
he is their source and he's supposedly
when this 29 year old kid who looked a
lot younger
shows up it was extremely disorienting and
and
introduced a real awkwardness to our
interaction and kind of a shock
edward snowden led the group upstairs to
his room
in his bedroom
by the door
he'd piled pillows as high up the door
jams as he could and pillows along the
bottom so if somebody was outside
eavesdropping would make it harder for
them there was always this kind of
uncertainty one might even say danger
hovering over the room
especially for the first few days
because we didn't know
what the nsa knew about what he was
doing so we thought it was very possible
that the door could
be barged down at any moment and someone
could enter to arrest snowden
they painstakingly debriefed snowden for days
days
at one point guardian reporter ewan
mccaskill sent a text message to his
editor in new york janine gibson
ginny knew that i like guinness so she said
said
if snowden is for real
uh send me a message and just say the
guinness is good and i was 100 sure that
snowden in the documents were for real
and i sent a message to
the document snowden delivered revealed
the history and details of one of the
united states government's most closely
guarded secrets
it was known
[Music]
the program began on september 11 2001
at fort meade in maryland washington now
people talking about michael jordan's
comeback the headquarters for the
national security agency september or
what what a gorgeous day i'm in my
office uh remember the day brilliantly
clear day clear blue skies
i was in a suite waiting for a meeting and
and [Music]
[Music]
we had
started up the hallway to his office
when the first plane at the time that a plane
plane
has crashed my executive assistant
a young woman came in
and said hey we got reports of a plane
hitting the world trade center and
like 300 million other americans i
thought wow
my poor security chief didn't even have
a chance to speak i just turned to him
and said all non-essential personnel out
of here now [Music]
oh my goodness there is smoke pouring
out of the pentagon
everybody had the tv on because the tv
is where the news was it wasn't coming
out of nsa's computers
it was on the tv
it was a
enormous shock that you have this
huge agency set up to prevent a surprise
attack and they learn about it
on a 300
television set uh tuned to cnn uh in in
the director's office
at the white house there was chaos a
near total evacuation
secret service bursts into the vice
president's office
basically frog marches him by one arm
and the seat of his pants
into this deep underground shelter that
was built to withstand nuclear war
almost immediately cheney directed his
lawyer david addington to prepare the
case for the president to exercise his
unilateral authority as commander-in-chief
commander-in-chief
david addington principal the vice
president was interested in ensuring that
that
the president's constitutional authority
uh was used to its fullest
cheney says i want you to tell me what
powers we're going to need the
president's going to need that he
doesn't already have to respond to this
calamity and they decide that they're
going to push every boundary they have
addington at one point says we're going
to push and push and push until some
larger force makes us stop
on september 12th at nsa headquarters
the mood was summer
where did it all begin we began soul
searching almost immediately we all felt
like a great wrong had been done and
that we were all somewhat if not all culpable
you have to remember that nsa was
created after world war ii to prevent
another surprise attack that was the
whole res on depth for
nsa pearl harbor we don't want another
pearl harbor information that more
people involved in the plot remain in
the united states immediately we began
to wonder what we had done wrong why did
we miss the boat what didn't we detect
that we should have detected the
investigation continues
in the aftermath troubling questions
emerged from deep inside the agency
why hadn't the nsa been able to connect
the dots
he was a very cautious agency it's an
agency that is fighting with one hand
tied behind his back out of a fear of a
political backlash
by being too aggressive the president
now at the door during the nixon administration
administration
the nsa had overstepped spied on
americans it certainly appears to
violate the fourth amendment to the
constitution caught and restricted by
congress the domestic spying apparatus
went dark for more than 20 years
it was against the law to turn the nsa
on americans
if you were an nsa analyst this sort of
legal regime was drilled into your head
to the point where a lot of people said
it's made the rules too restrictive and
it's hampered
the nsa's ability to detect terrorist plots
plots
some at the agency thought the nsa had
been overly cautious and believed the 9
11 attacks could have been stopped
i do believe it could have been prevented
prevented with
with
revisions to
the way we were permitted to operate
revisions that i tried
to get the general counsel to embrace
and and wouldn't
wouldn't
and couldn't quite try to get them
to make adjustments to how we were
operating how are we permitted to
i've felt this
ever since it occurred
over 3000 people's lives were lost
and it's just a weight that i
have been having trouble bearing it's
i'm sorry
the toughest week for america since japan
japan
all over washington there was a growing
demand to stop the next attack we have
to remember that you know we had we had
had terrorists living in this country
for a number of months and we didn't
know about it what else didn't we know
and so there was a great deal of concern
about the fact that that we not only
could could not connect the dots we
at the cia director george tenet was
under pressure from the vice president
the director had a meeting with vice
president cheney and his top aide david eddington
eddington and
and
he was asked what can be done what can
be done
that isn't being done 911 made necessary
a shift of policy cheney says in effect
a tenant make me a shopping list tell me
what you want to do that we're not
letting you do yet
tenet whose own agency was designing
covert operations against al qaeda
called general hayden
george calls me
and says mike any more you can do said
george no not within my authorities not
within my current authorities he paused
and said that's not actually the
question i asked you
is there anything more you could do
i said i'll get back to you
aiden got the message
at nsa headquarters he spread the word
take the gloves off
bring me an aggressive plan
and they asked me is there anything
that we had that could have prevented 911.
loomis told them what he believed was necessary
necessary
begin monitoring foreign internet
the u.s
internet hubs handle so much of the
worldwide internet traffic
so i said
let us allow
allow
collection between u.s and foreign
foreign to u.s
but others in the agency were proposing
much more aggressive data collection
what they propose to do is create a
whole new surveillance program without
warrants trapping all sorts of
information taking advantage of the fact that
that
modern communication trunk lines tend to
come through the united states
the idea of this program was
you're looking for unknown conspirators
and the way they devised to do that was
to look at everybody
it was the outline of something hayden
could take to the vice president
he headed to washington to propose the idea
it would be his first meeting in the
prior to 9 11 i don't think i knew
general hayden i probably knew his name
i doubt that the president knew his name
it's a very big change for the director
of nsa to suddenly have all this
attention from senior officials in the
white house and so forth and i'm sure it
had a major impact on hayden
the president had been briefed
he put his arm around general hayden
called him his childhood nickname mikey
mikey
so i walk in to see the president it's
the president and the vice president in
the room um almost certainly condi was
there as the national security adviser
andy card would have been there
cheney suggests a question and george
bush asks it what would you like to do
that you can't already do that would
help prevent another 911
hayden outlined the program
it would gather data on the phone calls
and internet traffic of hundreds of
millions of americans then search it for
suspicious connections
but he was worried about whether it was legal
legal
and the first thing he says to me is
mike i
i understand your concerns but there are
some things we're going to have to do
and i think i have the authority to
authorize you to do
the things that you've outlined
president says
go i want you to go develop a program
come back to me we've got the lawyers
working on it but
but you
you
hayden left the white house knowing that
the program was bound to be
controversial no president had
authorized it prior to this time
and michael hayden goes home after uh
briefing the president and the vice
president about his ideas for expanding
surveillance and takes a walk with his wife
wife
and she said what's on your mind so well
we're going to go do something here and
i didn't go in any into any details
we're going to do something
yeah one day it's going to be public and
when it gets public it's going to be
very controversial and the people doing
are going to be swept into this thing
she said huh
is it the right thing to do
yeah i think so
he said okay
we'll deal with that
when it comes
on october 4th in a secret signing with
cheney the president officially
authorized the program that order is
written by david addington the vice
president's lawyer it's not written by
the president's lawyer and this is
not only unusual but probably unique in
the history of major u.s intelligence
operations is written by the vice
president's lawyer
and stored in his own safe
addington worked out of a small office
next to the white house in the old
executive office building
this order is one of the most closely
kept secrets of the bush cheney
administration for four years
it kept so secret that many people
involved in national security inside the
white house and the government don't
know about it
addington personally hand carried a copy
he said i'm coming out i'll be there in
about 30 minutes
hand carried
this was very closely guarded
that we were doing this
he comes onto the campus at fort meade
up to the top deck and hands me the order
order
now general hayden wanted the sign off
of his top lawyer robert dietz
i think he was concerned and wanted my
view of whether this program that was
was lawful
i spent a
kind of sleepless night pondering
the legality of it
that this was a very hard call
it's a very hard call
the nsa has a general counsel and about
a hundred lawyers
and they were told the president has
signed it it's been certified as lawful
and once all the signatures are there
that's it we salute we say okay it's
lawful we're gonna go ahead
in the intel world if a president says
to you
i need this in order to keep the
american people safe you need to try to
figure out where that line is constitutionally
constitutionally
and march right up to it
two other nsa lawyers would also sign
off on the program
we came to the conclusion
independently um
but consistently
that there was no doubt in our mind that
it was a legitimate use of the
president's article to authority
general hayden had heard exactly what he needed
needed
article two
the president's authority as commander-in-chief
commander-in-chief
i have my three good friends here
who have you know been my guardian
angels on these things since i became
now the massive collection of data could begin
begin
who's emailing whom who's texting whom
who's doing uh skype calls with whom
they're collecting a lot of information
a lot of content of phone calls they're
actually recording the voices
not for all of our calls but
for a lot of u.s telephone calls and
they were doing this under an authority
that had never existed before
it would be general hayden's most
closely guarded secret
only a small handful of nsa employees
knew what the president had authorized
most were kept out of the loop
including this man
senior manager thomas drake my first day
reporting on the job was the morning of
9 11. he had been in
the military he'd been in the air force he's
he's
he's devoted his life to
national security issues
he's a computer
genius of a sort
drake had no idea what had been going on
between hayden and the white house
he had been given a different task
i was actually charged to find whatever
you've got in the labs whatever you've got
got
in your agency even if it's not
operational put it into the fight we
need it it might help us we need to we
need to deal with the threat
but according to the rules drake thought
he had to follow
whatever he found had to safeguard
americans privacy
he started by digging around inside the
deepest reaches of the nsa's secret r d programs
programs
and he stumbles into
sort of a skunk works and he discovers
that there was actually
a program before 911 that could have as
they said eavesdropped on the entire
world it's called thin thread
thin thread
a program that could capture and sort
massive amounts of phone and email data
was the brainchild of veteran crypto
mathematician bill benny
the whole idea was to build networks
around the world of everybody and who
they communicate with
then you could isolate all the groups of
terrorists once you could do that you
could use that metadata to select that
information from all those tens of
but to make sure the nsa would not spy
on u.s citizens
benny and the other analysts had
built-in privacy protections
it anonymizes who it's listening in on
unless there's a court warrant that
makes the identity of that person clear
if you knew that it was us person
related it would be automatically encrypted
encrypted
that was part of the design of thin thread
thread
it had a data
privacy section
that was working very well protecting
citizens and innocent people
uh by encrypting the data and not
allowing analysts to look at it even
drake was ecstatic
the experimental program could monitor
massive amounts of data but the
encryption would protect the privacy of
individual americans
he took it upstairs to the top deck in
those short days and weeks after 9 11 i
put together a two-page classified
implementation plan to put thin threat
into the fight and i presented it to
maureen baginski
baginski was drake's immediate superior
the third highest ranking official at nsa
nsa
it took a while to get any kind of
response he felt there was something
strange going on
she would refuse to see me
none of her responses were ever
electronic none of her responses were in
a form that would be
recorded or saved
finally he wrote a memo sent to her
and instead of responding electronically
which would have been normal she wrote
in a big
black felt pen
it was kind of a modified cursive
and she said they've gone with a
different program
when drake asked her what this other
solution was she said i'm sorry i can't
it didn't take long for clues to emerge
that something much bigger was going on
they started seeing
stacks of servers piled in corners and
so forth
so we had to walk away around all this
hardware that was piling up out there
and so we knew you know something was happening
all of a sudden people who normally
would communicate with each other
were keeping secret this new operation
of some sort
dozens of nsa employees were sworn to secrecy
secrecy
but before long details were leaked to drake
drake
i have people coming to me
with grave concerns about what are we
doing tom
i thought we're supposed to have a
warrant i'm being directed to deploy
what's normally foreign intelligence
outward-facing equipment i'm being now
directed to place it on internal networks
at the same time
bill binney and the thin thread team
heard that the program was using thin
thread but stripping out the privacy protections
protections
what they're hearing is
that the program they designed is in
some form being put into use
use
but without the the protections that
they had designed in what they did was they
they
they got rid of the section of the code
that encrypted any of the attributes of
even ed loomis who had wanted a more
robust approach
was surprised at how far the agency was
willing to go
i just refused to believe after all i
had been through for 37 years that
that
all of a sudden things would change
and they'd go back to the old ways back
to the early 70s i didn't believe that
they could possibly have just flip-flopped
flip-flopped
and and gone 180 degrees the other way
i i just didn't believe it
to the thin thread team collecting data
without a warrant seemed like a direct
violation of the rules they had followed
for years
all these years having grown up you
never spy on americans we had suddenly become
become
uh criminals
by association
the agency had gone down a path that we
had been preached to
you never do
we were very very
very very
very
concerned and the fact that their thin
thread system had been incorporated into
the program was the last straw
we said we
we can't stick around and be a party to
this this we can't be an accessory to
all these crimes so we have to get out
at the end of october 2001
bill binney kirk wiebe and ed loomis all
quietly retired
tom drake stayed behind
so drake is now still working away over
at the nsa with his his worries rising
about what's going on in terms of
domestic surveillance
once again drake confronted maureen baginski
baginski
i made one final attempt
one final appeal to maureen baginski
and she demurred and she simply said
call call the office of general counsel
which i did
and i said i want to i want to speak to
the lead attorney she'd give me the name
i want to speak it was vida potenza
he goes to the general counsel's office
with his concerns and says i think this
program may be illegal
as he proceeded to tell me you don't understand
understand
all the lawyers have approved it it's legal
legal
we are under emergency emergency
conditions extraordinary extraordinary
means are required to deal with a threat
we just need the data
and then the most the most chilling i
don't often have said this part of the
conversation don't ask any more
questions mr drake
if he came to me someone who was not
read into the program
right and not a part of what we were doing
doing
and told me that
that
we were
running amok essentially inviting the constitution
constitution
and it was in that time frame when
when
there was an awful lot going on and we
were all worried about the next attack
there's no doubt in my mind i would have
told him
you know go talk to your management
don't bother me with this
i mean
you know you you did the the minute he
said if if he did say
you're using this to violate the constitution
constitution
i i mean i probably would have stopped
the conversation at that point
quite frankly
so i mean if that's what he said he said
then anything after that i probably
the program was continuing to grow
in secret the nation's largest telephone
companies were now giving the nsa the
private call records of millions of americans
americans
tom drake had hit a dead end inside the agency
that fall bill benny took an
extraordinary step
he decided to break ranks to take the
the next move is to try to get some
cooperation from congress from the
senate and house intelligence committees
and he finds an ally in diane rourke who
felt the same way
diane rourke was a top congressional
intelligence staffer i worked at the
house intelligence committee for 17 years
years
and for the last five of those years i
had the nsa account for the republican majority
majority
she's an interesting character she's
very conservative she's a republican she
is an oversight of the nsa
partly to make it powerful and also to
keep it from wasting money
porter goss was rorke's boss
goss was the powerful chairman of the
house select committee on intelligence
and future cia director diane is the
go-to girl on the house permanent select
committee on matters dealing with nsa
so she spent a fair amount of time at
nsa she knew personnel out there
benny and rourke decided it would be
safer to meet away from her
congressional office
bill came to me at my house and told me
that part of their system their thin
threat system was being used for
collection of domestic communications in
a dragnet fashion collection on everybody
everybody
so diane says they have gone rogue you know
know
that was her point that she thought they
were going rogue i was aghast i was
absolutely aghast because nsa had
this because this constituted a complete
reversal of nsa policy rourke is a very
feisty woman she was just certain that
there was no way that this program was
legal and she said and if the nsa
officials are breaking the law i am
rourke began to distribute a series of
searing memos to the leaders of the
house intelligence committee diane
diane
very capable so good that she pierced
the veil
of a program that she was not briefed on
not cleared for but knew something was
going on i updated them on what was
going on explained to them
the uh all
all
the technology in as simple a way as i could
could and
and
i argued very strongly that they needed
to have
the protections restored i told them
that if you know if they did not if the
administration refused to do this
they should insist that the system be be
what rourke did not know was that in
october the white house had invited a
small group of congressional leaders to
a secret briefing in the vice
president's office
general hayden led the briefing
mike hate is particularly good at coming
in and explaining things in a way that
uh so we will say neophytes
in the business
could understand it and you really
wanted to believe what mike had to say
uh and and absorb it and digest it
rather than question it with a very
difficult circumstance
very facile command of the facts he's
also very good at alighting past
the parts that he doesn't think you want
to hear and using very careful language
to avoid saying
things he doesn't want to say while also
avoiding any outright falsehood our
purpose in this was to get the other
political branch involved
in this program and so
we would be defeating our own purposes
working it against our own goals if we
weren't full monty uh to
to these folks
but as open as hayden says he was
he and the vice president's office
created strict conditions for the
briefing you have the the individual
senator member of congress who's brought
in and read into a program they're not
allowed to bring any staff with them
they're not necessarily allowed to
communicate any of what they've heard to
their staff in some instances they're
not lawyers so they may not understand
all of the legal fine points
in most instances they're not
technologists so they may not be able to
grasp what it is precisely that they're
being briefed on or the implications of
it 14 people were killed and scores were
wounded they returned to congress
some now feeling they were unable to
exercise effective oversight of the program
program
by the summer of 2002
it was running full speed
and i argued with everybody that i met
and i got no
refutation from them i said it was
it was unethical immoral
politically stupid
illegal and unconstitutional
and stop
and when this comes out
finally intelligence committee chairman
i said you need to talk to general
hayden and you also need to know that
concerns of the areas you're talking about
about
are known to me
and i'm not going to discuss because
you're frankly not cleared for this
level of program
or what's going on here but the fact
that you've discovered this means that
you need to talk to general hayden
rourke was summoned to the top deck at
the nsa to meet with director hayden my
whole point in going there was to ask
him why he had taken off the protections
the encryption and the automated tracking
tracking
i asked this any number of times
and he always evaded answering and i
finally just decided i was not going to
leave the room until i got an answer
and so i kept asking and so about the
fifth time he
looked down and i remember he could not
look me in the eye and he said
we have the power we don't need them
and he made clear that the power he's
referring to was the
it's awkward for me having the
conversation because she's not been
briefed on the program all right so um
um
to a certain level of detail
i i simply respond that i disagree with
both of our conclusions that i think
what we're doing is lawful and what i
and i think what it is we're doing is
effective and if i knew of a better way
of doing it i would do that too
toward the end of the meeting general
hayden made it pretty clear that he he
wanted me to stop lobbying against the program
program
i said look and diane this is going to
become public and when it becomes public
you can argue your point and i can argue mine
mine
and so
instead of allaying my concerns this
actually made me far more worried
it was clear to me that he didn't like
my talking to other people in the
executive branch and on the house
intelligence committee and trying to
convince them to put controls on the program
program
for now
there's a secure uncertainty like sandra
said about how many by early 2003
keeping the president's program secret
was about to become harder
in a small office at the department of
justice attorney thomas tan had just
started a new job
i went in with a lot of patriotic fervor
i work with
agents fbi agents primarily
to try and
develop intelligence about people that
we thought were foreign agents or
terrorists he came from a family of fbi agents
agents
but not just any fbi agents
his uncle was one of the top aides to j
edgar hoover his
his
father had also been a senior official
under j edgar hoover
tam would work with one of the most
secretive institutions in washington
the foreign intelligence surveillance court
court
it was in an uh on the sixth floor and
only one elevator went up there and it
was literally in a bank vault
because they were worried about the the
soviet union you know overhearing what
was going on good evening president
nixon reportedly will announce his
resignation tonight the fisa court had
been set up to act as a watchdog after
those revelations during the nixon
administration that the nsa had been
when that came out you saw
a period of reform like none other we
we'd seen like nothing we'd seen before
then and and frankly nothing since
under the reforms the nsa could conduct
surveillance inside the united states
only if the fisa court issued a warrant
you can turn your ears outward but not
inward you can listen all you want abroad
abroad
but you really cannot do that to
americans unless
you have a warrant
and inside the department of justice it
was thomas tam's job to prepare warrants
for the fisa court the law specifically
said that if you didn't go through the
court you were
but then as tam began working on
terrorism cases he discovered something surprising
surprising
evidence of the program there are
references to wiretaps and information
that hadn't come through fisa warrants
so the question is where did they come from
from
where did the government get this information
information
tam learned that hardly anyone at the
doj knew details about what was going on
i asked a supervisor
of mine if she knew what the
what the program was about and she told
me that
she just assumed that what we were doing
was illegal and she didn't want to ask
tam became concerned they were
conducting electronic surveillance
without getting warrants
and using that information then to
develop probable cause and basically
not informing the court of the source of
tam and others at the doj
unaware of the secret presidential order
wondered if attorney general ashcroft
was doing something illegal
it just kind of ate away at me and kind
of came to a head when [Music]
[Music] i
i
ran into one of the deputies of the unit
who said that there was a chance that
for the first time ever that a sitting
tam says he tried to take his questions
up the chain of command without success
he was quite disturbed by that
was quite disturbed that he wasn't
getting answers to the questions he was asking
asking
eventually tam decided to take a risky
step he headed up pennsylvania avenue to
congress for a secret meeting with a
powerful senate staffer i said does
congress know
what we're doing with regard to this program
program
and she said she she couldn't tell me i
said well then i think you know maybe i
will go to the press
and she i remember her last
last
comment was you know tom whistleblowers
frequently don't end up very well
this weekend in baghdad a bomb last night
night
in the fall of 2003 the white house got
involved in filling an important vacancy
at the justice department
the justice department needs a new head
of the office of legal counsel which is
a very powerful position
cheney and addington get together and
say who should we pick
david addington had a candidate in mind
for the job
jack goldsmith
jack goldsmith is impeccably
credentialed member of the federalist
societies well-known and liked in the
conservative movement
david addington calls goldsmith in
and interrogates him about a few of his
lesser known positions and what would
you think about this or that and he's
convinced goldsmith like he himself is a
true believer and is going to be making
the right decisions
with addington's blessing goldsmith
became the new head of the office of
legal counsel
charged with reviewing the legality of
the administration's most secret operations
operations
i was being briefed into a lot of
programs classified programs
counterterrorism programs
i was extraordinarily naive
i had a sense that this was an important job
job
i did not have a full sense of
the nature of the issues or
before long goldsmith headed for david
addington's office
it was time to learn about the program
jack like most of the others who are
briefed on this walks into addington's
office which he regards as a little bit
peculiar what's this doing in vice
president's lawyer's office
addington opens the safe pulls it out
there's the red cover it says top secret
slash s i slash comment slash stellar
wind the cover name for this program
as he read the document goldsmith began
to have grave doubts the program was an
example of the administration
going alone in secret based on
inadequate legal reasoning and flawed
legal opinions
goldsmith discovered that as part of the
program the government had been tracking
data about the emails of tens of
millions of americans he said you can't justify
justify
the email collection it is
on its face
a clear violation of the fourth
amendment and perhaps the first
addington was furious that goldsmith
would raise questions about the program
and he let him know
he was very tough in making his
arguments he was very sarcastic and aggressive
aggressive
against people with whom he disagreed
and dismissive oftentimes
and he acted with the implicit blessing
of the vice president so all these
things made him a very very forceful presence
presence
you know david pushed he pushed
everybody he pushed me even when i was
the attorney general he would push me so
that was just david's nature and i think
jack didn't appreciate being pushed sometimes
sometimes
he was daring jack goldsmith to say
this is illegal and you've got to stop
it he never believed that goldsmith
would do it
goldsmith tells him we're going to
pull back our
endorsement of the legality of this
program and addington roars at him and
says if you do that the blood of a
hundred thousand people uh killed in the
next attack will be on your head
for cheney addington gonzalez hayden and others
others
the personal stakes at this moment were
extremely high
it was a felony to conduct this kind of
surveillance in the united states and
everyone was relying
on the shield that they were trying to
create of having the president order it
explicitly and have the attorney general
sign off and say it's lawful
and as soon as the justice department
starts to say we're not so sure this is lawful
lawful
there is a great deal of concern and anxiety
five separate car bombs blew up in a span
span
last night
at the justice department they prepared
for conflict with the white house
goldsmith's boss deputy attorney general
james comey delivered the news to john ashcroft
ashcroft
parts of the program appeared to be illegal
illegal
they go to the attorney general john
ashcroft they say we don't think this is
legal we think we need to get this
changed or we need to stop what's going
on because we don't have a solid
ashcroft was supposed to sign a
reauthorization of the entire program
every 45 days
and for two and a half years he had
but now he balked
ashcroft gives comey his verbal assurance
assurance
that he is not going to go along with
this program and that he is going to
demand changes or he won't
sign then just hours later
attorney general ashcroft collapsed
suffering from severe pancreatitis
james comey was now the acting attorney general
general
comey notifies the white house formally
that he's not going to sign
and we're now within 48 hours of
expiration of this program
with the deadline looming inside the
white house alberto gonzalez chief of
staff andrew card and david addington
headed to attorney general ashcroft's
hospital room
went to the west wing picked up david
who had the authorization we get to the
hospital and i tell david to stay back
because there is history between david
and the attorney general and i didn't
want to aggravate the attorney general
any needlessly
janet ashcroft the attorney general's wife
wife
is very alarmed she calls up ashcroft's
chief of staff
and says oh my god they're coming over
ashcroft's chief of staff
calls comey the deputy
comey is
in a car on his way home he has the driver
driver
make an actual u-turn
they slap the flasher and the siren on
and he heads over to that hospital as
fast as he can go
it was the evening about eight o'clock
and i got a call from the justice
department command center so i rushed to
the hospital
double parked ran up the stairs
goldsmith and comey waited in ashcroft's
room he had tubes going in and out of
him he looked ashen
ashen and
and
i actually thought he looked near death
i thought he looked just terrible
in walked alberto gonzalez white house
counsel and andrew card the president
chief of staff
we get to the hospital and general
ashcroft is laying in bed and
as soon as we got there
judge i said nothing other than sorry
feeling bad and
judge gonzalez said
we brought the document here's the
document attorney general ashcroft kind
of lifted himself
he wrote rose he arose from the bed kind
of lifted himself up
and gave about a two or three minute speech
speech
or talk address to gonzales and card
in which he basically
i can't get into the details but he
showed enormous unbelievable clarity
about what the issues were
and what was going on and he explained
why he also would not approve the program
program
and he
read them a bit of the riot act and then
he said at the end of all this he said
in any event i'm not the attorney
general now
jim comey is because tim comey was the
acting attorney general
and with that extraordinary
performance and it was just an amazing
one of the most amazing things i've ever
seen in my life because he went from
seeming you know near death to having
this a moment this amazing moment of clarity
clarity and
and
he just again receded into the bed
and i really worried at that point that
he was going to expire and um i mean it just
just
it looked like he gave it the last of
his energy
and and so finally uh he when he repeats
again he's no longer the attorney
general and has finished talking andy
and i just said thank you we'll
we'll raise this with the deputy
attorney general and we and we left
it was an intense
unbelievable scene and
a gonzalez card quickly left and that
in the wake of the hospital
confrontation at the white house cheney
insisted the president should act on his own
own
reauthorize all of the program even
though the justice department said part
of it was illegal
cheney and david addington draft a new order
order
and this time it has one subtle difference
difference
instead of having a signature page
for the attorney general i certify the
lawfulness of this order
there's a new signature for the white
house council alberto gonzalez who does
not have the same legal authority
i satisfy myself that there would there
was sufficient legal authority to move
forward and i felt that the president
was not a lawyer and if this it was my
job if if i felt comfortable that it was
in fact lawful to provide that signature
i did it because i wanted to protect the
president that's why i signed that document
document
but the white house wondered would
general hayden go out on a legal limb
and continue the program
david addington calls me and says are
you willing to do this without the
signature of the attorney general with
the signature of white house counsel al
gonzalez and authorization from the president
president
and i thought
and i said yes
hayden and gonzalez say their
willingness was informed by something
that happened just before the addington call
in madrid this morning more than 190
people were killed at least 10
simultaneous bombs it was one of the
worst terrorist attacks since september 11th
given that starkness of the al-qaeda threat
threat
given the ambiguity of the situation i
thought the correct operational legal
and ethical decision was all right we'll
do this one more time
on the somewhat different framework
framework
so that was a point where he could have
said i'm turning it off until we get a
proper order from the justice department
but he didn't he went along with
eddington and cheney
that afternoon president bush
at the justice department jack goldsmith
prepared his resignation letter
i had drafted my resignation letter and
was prepared to resign and i was sure i
was going to resign that day it was
inconceivable to me
based on what had happened the last two
dozens of top doj officials threatened
to join him including fbi director mueller
mueller
and even acting attorney general comey
and i would never be part of something
that i believe to be fundamentally wrong
with a heavy heart and undiminished love
of my country and my department i resign
as deputy attorney general of the united
states effective immediately
sincerely yours james b comey
george bush is
on the edge of a cliff
his presidency is at stake this was
going to be
something on the order of two dozen
nearly the entire political appointment
list at the justice department from the
attorney general on down and
and
no president could survive that in an
the next morning the president decided
to have a private talk with acting
after the national security briefing
bush has to come stay a minute
come talk to me
and cheney starts to follow and bush
says no no this is just the two of us
and he says what's going on here how
could you possibly do something of this
importance at the very last
minute moment of time
comey suddenly realizes that the
president had no idea what had been
happening the president thinks this just
began yesterday
he doesn't know it's been going on for
three months
and so he says mr president
if that's what you've been told you have
president certainly did not want a
situation where the fbi director and the deputy
deputy
attorney general would resign
so he was
not too happy to learn that this had
risen to a level of banks that it had
the president then sent for fbi director mueller
mueller
mueller's waiting downstairs a level
outside the situation room some aide
goes and says president wants to see you
right now get in there
and bush says to mueller go tell jim
comey to fix this i withdraw the order
the warrantless email data collection
was shut down the crisis was averted
but at the white house they were
determined to resume it
and so they're they're sort of literally
you know they're sort of sifting through
the the the fisa law they're sifting
through the patriot act trying to find existing
existing
laws existing authorities you might call
it loopholes to
to
justify these programs
general hayden was sent to the secret
fisa court to convince a judge to
restart it
could we get a court order to authorize
this and so we began a very aggressive
program with the chief judge of the fisa
court at that time judge color catelli
to take that part of the program that
that
had been stopped and presented to her to
see if we could get an order to allow
that program to go forward hayden
personally meets with judge catelli of
the fisa court um on
on two saturdays
to make the pitch to explain how they're
going to do this
and cotelli eventually rules
that this is legal
that the nsa
can indeed collect all of the internet
metadata going to and from the united
states and they use this authority that
previously was used to
to
uh to trace num
numbers going to and from a single telephone
telephone
for everybody
caller catelli's secret ruling relied on
a controversial interpretation of a 25
year old supreme court case
this was frankly a huge stretch the idea
that you could use this
to justify the collection of trillions
of pieces of internet metadata surprised
a lot of people when it came out
in the snowden archives but that's where
they went the program was back online
bigger than ever
that part of the program over which
there was a grand dispute in the spring
of 2004 was resumed in large measure
under a different legal theory by the fall
fall of 2004
to defend the patriot act this time in buffalo
buffalo he continued his voice for an extension
he continued his voice for an extension of the anti-terror that same year the
of the anti-terror that same year the president hit the campaign trail
president hit the campaign trail publicly arguing there was no
publicly arguing there was no warrantless surveillance program
warrantless surveillance program nothing has changed by the way
nothing has changed by the way when we're talking about chasing down
when we're talking about chasing down terrorists
terrorists we're talking about getting a court
we're talking about getting a court order before we do so bush got up there
order before we do so bush got up there several times and said you know when you
several times and said you know when you hear about us wiretapping that means
hear about us wiretapping that means we're getting a court warrant well that
we're getting a court warrant well that we knew that wasn't true you know he was
we knew that wasn't true you know he was leaving out this this whole other side
leaving out this this whole other side of the equation
of the equation in terms of the nsa operation it's
in terms of the nsa operation it's important for our fellow citizens to
important for our fellow citizens to understand constitutional guarantees are
understand constitutional guarantees are in place
in place when it comes to doing what is necessary
when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland because we value
to protect our homeland because we value the constitution
as the president insisted the government always secured warrants
always secured warrants in washington that department of justice
in washington that department of justice attorney thomas tam knew otherwise
attorney thomas tam knew otherwise i agonized for probably for months i was
i agonized for probably for months i was upset i would say with what i thought
upset i would say with what i thought was being done
was being done to the way our government was supposed
to the way our government was supposed to work
to work [Music]
[Music] tam had not been aware that jack
tam had not been aware that jack goldsmith from the top echelon at the
goldsmith from the top echelon at the department of justice had nearly
department of justice had nearly resigned
resigned but his concerns about the program had
but his concerns about the program had continued to grow
continued to grow he agonized about this
he agonized about this spent a lot of sleepless nights wondered
spent a lot of sleepless nights wondered [Music]
[Music] about what he should do
about what he should do it just it just kind of ate away at me
it just it just kind of ate away at me and it was pretty clear to me at least
and it was pretty clear to me at least that i didn't want to keep participating
that i didn't want to keep participating in whatever was going on
in whatever was going on tam decided to take a very big step
tam decided to take a very big step one dramatically out of character for
one dramatically out of character for the son and nephew of high-ranking fbi
the son and nephew of high-ranking fbi agents
one day on his lunch break he slipped into a washington subway station he used
into a washington subway station he used a pay phone to make an anonymous call to
a pay phone to make an anonymous call to the new york times
the new york times he said he was sweating
he said he was sweating nervous
nervous looking around he felt he said like a
looking around he felt he said like a spy when he made that phone call but he
spy when he made that phone call but he did
i certainly was conscious of the fact that i i if i were going to be found out
that i i if i were going to be found out and i did think i would be found out
and i did think i would be found out actually eventually
actually eventually um that that there would be serious
um that that there would be serious ramifications but i just thought it was
ramifications but i just thought it was important
important [Applause]
[Applause] [Music]
[Music] [Applause]
[Applause] tam says the phone call was to a new
tam says the phone call was to a new york times reporter
york times reporter i had read articles by eric lichblow
i had read articles by eric lichblow with the new york times i knew he was
with the new york times i knew he was covering the department of justice
covering the department of justice lishblah will not confirm that tam was a
lishblah will not confirm that tam was a source but acknowledges receiving a tip
source but acknowledges receiving a tip from an anonymous source
from an anonymous source there was a suggestion from from one of
there was a suggestion from from one of the early sources that
the early sources that whatever is going on involving this
whatever is going on involving this super sensitive spy program was causing
super sensitive spy program was causing such tumult and debate within the
such tumult and debate within the justice department that there's talk of
justice department that there's talk of ashcroft being indicted
ashcroft being indicted and you know that certainly gets your
and you know that certainly gets your attention
tan says he and lish blau had a series of clandestine conversations around
of clandestine conversations around washington
washington i eventually told him my suspicions that
i eventually told him my suspicions that i'm very very limited people knew what
i'm very very limited people knew what what it was all about and that that
what it was all about and that that really
really some very experienced high-level lawyers
some very experienced high-level lawyers thought what we were what the government
thought what we were what the government was doing was illegal
was doing was illegal having leaked tam disappeared back into
having leaked tam disappeared back into the bureaucracy at the justice
the bureaucracy at the justice department
at the times eric lishblow knew that another reporter james risen had also
another reporter james risen had also been hearing about the program
been hearing about the program we heard basically that the president
we heard basically that the president had authorized a warrantless wiretapping
had authorized a warrantless wiretapping program it was uh believed by a lot of
program it was uh believed by a lot of by the people we were talking to to be
by the people we were talking to to be in violation of the
in violation of the uh of fisa and of the constitution they
uh of fisa and of the constitution they were doing things
were doing things well outside their lane without the
well outside their lane without the knowledge of most of the court without
knowledge of most of the court without the knowledge of most members of
the knowledge of most members of congress really on the the white house's
congress really on the the white house's own authority that was really what
own authority that was really what in our mind made the story eager to get
in our mind made the story eager to get general hayden on the record james risen
general hayden on the record james risen called the nsa i told the press person
called the nsa i told the press person that i needed to talk to hayden
that i needed to talk to hayden immediately and for a very sensitive
immediately and for a very sensitive matter and i didn't tell him exactly
matter and i didn't tell him exactly what it was but
what it was but to my surprise she got him on the phone
to my surprise she got him on the phone immediately
immediately i remember i was sitting next to him i
i remember i was sitting next to him i did not know he was going to do that it
did not know he was going to do that it was a bit shocking not only that he was
was a bit shocking not only that he was calling him but also they got hayden on
calling him but also they got hayden on the line
the line i read them like two paragraphs of the
i read them like two paragraphs of the draft of the story september 11th
draft of the story september 11th attacks president bush secretly
attacks president bush secretly authorized the national security agency
authorized the national security agency to eavesdrop on americans and you could
to eavesdrop on americans and you could hear like a sharp
hear like a sharp intake of breath like
intake of breath like i can't you know it was almost like he
i can't you know it was almost like he was he didn't want to say it but he was
was he didn't want to say it but he was like i can't believe you've got that
like i can't believe you've got that story
story i think this is a very bad thing that
i think this is a very bad thing that you know there's a reason we keep
you know there's a reason we keep intelligent sources and methods secret
intelligent sources and methods secret same reason journalists try to keep
same reason journalists try to keep their sources of method secret you know
their sources of method secret you know you can't survive unless you keep them
you can't survive unless you keep them secret
secret i'd caught him off guard and he started
i'd caught him off guard and he started to confirm it and then
to confirm it and then realized
realized what he was doing and hung up
what he was doing and hung up hayden sounded the alarm the new york
hayden sounded the alarm the new york times was preparing to expose the
times was preparing to expose the existence of the program in the middle
existence of the program in the middle of an election year
of an election year we were worried that this would
we were worried that this would compromise a very important very
compromise a very important very significant intelligence activity
significant intelligence activity there was a great there was debate
there was a great there was debate within the administration about what to
within the administration about what to do
do should we try to get an
should we try to get an injunction the white house demanded a
injunction the white house demanded a series of meetings with the times
series of meetings with the times the first was inside the eisenhower
the first was inside the eisenhower executive office building
executive office building acting cia director john mclaughlin ran
acting cia director john mclaughlin ran the meeting
the meeting one thing i remember about his
one thing i remember about his presentation was that he never
presentation was that he never actually confirmed that they had such a
actually confirmed that they had such a program they kept talking in these
program they kept talking in these hypotheticals like saying if we were
hypotheticals like saying if we were doing this this would be very important
doing this this would be very important to the government the language he used
to the government the language he used which was kind of
which was kind of orwellian in a way was if
orwellian in a way was if the united states had such a program we
the united states had such a program we would
would request that the new york times not
request that the new york times not publish any information about it and
publish any information about it and then i started taking notes and they
then i started taking notes and they tried to stop me from taking notes and
tried to stop me from taking notes and it was a very contentious
it was a very contentious meeting that
meeting that only convinced me
only convinced me further that the story was right and
further that the story was right and that they were trying to stop it
that they were trying to stop it meeting after meeting the government
meeting after meeting the government made the argument the program was both
made the argument the program was both effective and legal
effective and legal one of the strongest selling points they
one of the strongest selling points they made
made which um to my mind was probably the
which um to my mind was probably the most disingenuous was the idea that this
most disingenuous was the idea that this had all been legally reviewed this was
had all been legally reviewed this was all perfectly legal perfectly
all perfectly legal perfectly constitutional everyone was on board
constitutional everyone was on board there was no doubt about its legality
there was no doubt about its legality back in the times offices the reporters
back in the times offices the reporters argued the white house was misleading
argued the white house was misleading them but the editors were not convinced
them but the editors were not convinced the story should run
the story should run there were intense discussions and it
there were intense discussions and it got got
got got emotional on all sides we argued that
emotional on all sides we argued that this was really important that our
this was really important that our sources were telling us
sources were telling us it was illegal or unconstitutional that
it was illegal or unconstitutional that there was uh
there was uh clearly
clearly people in the government who disagreed
people in the government who disagreed with what the government what the
with what the government what the officials were saying to the
officials were saying to the to the editors
to the editors in the fall of 2004 the administration
in the fall of 2004 the administration invited the times top editors to a
invited the times top editors to a closed-door meeting
closed-door meeting executive editor bill keller met with
executive editor bill keller met with the president's top advisors condoleezza
the president's top advisors condoleezza rice
rice general hayden
general hayden alberto gonzalez and others
alberto gonzalez and others who insisted to keller that revealing
who insisted to keller that revealing the existence of the program would
the existence of the program would endanger national security
endanger national security i had a consensus of everybody
i had a consensus of everybody that we had contact with in the
that we had contact with in the administration
administration um
um that this would be
that this would be an extremely dangerous thing to do
an extremely dangerous thing to do these were you know serious people
these were you know serious people a consensus across the board of those
a consensus across the board of those who
who talked to us that it was going to be
talked to us that it was going to be dangerous
dangerous a level of stridency that was
a level of stridency that was quite impressive and you know after
quite impressive and you know after much discussion decided
much discussion decided that we weren't ready to go with it
that we weren't ready to go with it keller spiked the story
keller spiked the story the white house had prevailed the
the white house had prevailed the program would remain a well-kept secret
program would remain a well-kept secret the president has ordered a major
the president has ordered a major shakeup of america's spy operations the
shakeup of america's spy operations the nuts and bolts of intelligence will fall
nuts and bolts of intelligence will fall to lieutenant general michael hayden who
to lieutenant general michael hayden who now heads up to once general hayden was
now heads up to once general hayden was promoted by the white house to help
promoted by the white house to help oversee all intelligence operations
oversee all intelligence operations he was replaced by a new general keith
he was replaced by a new general keith alexander
alexander the change gave tom drake another chance
the change gave tom drake another chance to voice his concerns about the program
to voice his concerns about the program he wrote general alexander a classified
he wrote general alexander a classified letter
letter within the system my last official act
within the system my last official act for all intents and purposes was to
for all intents and purposes was to write that formal letter to to alexander
the letter said the nsa's intelligence gathering activities were out of control
gathering activities were out of control and needed to be reined in
this is a crusade for him being drake someone who's got a somewhat obsessive
someone who's got a somewhat obsessive personality he keeps trying to get the
personality he keeps trying to get the word out
word out but general alexander was no more
but general alexander was no more responsive than hayden had been
responsive than hayden had been and by writing directly to the general
and by writing directly to the general drake had broken bureaucratic protocol
drake had broken bureaucratic protocol his days were numbered
they actually reorganized my job right out from under me and i literally was
out from under me and i literally was left with nothing i had an office i had
left with nothing i had an office i had a flag as a senior executive but nothing
a flag as a senior executive but nothing else
else no programs no people no team no nothing
drake had formed friendships with the thin threat group binny wiebe loomis and
thin threat group binny wiebe loomis and congress's diane rourke
congress's diane rourke now they began to seriously consider
now they began to seriously consider what they called the nuclear option
what they called the nuclear option going to the press
going to the press and i can remember throwing the question
and i can remember throwing the question out there one evening i said what do we
out there one evening i said what do we do
do tom's not getting anywhere and so we
tom's not getting anywhere and so we would say is it time to go to the press
would say is it time to go to the press invoke the nuclear option which is going
invoke the nuclear option which is going to the press and we were all afraid to
to the press and we were all afraid to do it we're still traditional kind of
do it we're still traditional kind of employees the government wanted to stay
employees the government wanted to stay inside the government to try to get the
inside the government to try to get the government to change its ways to make it
government to change its ways to make it you know to write itself as opposed to
you know to write itself as opposed to having to force it by going to the
having to force it by going to the fourth estate the public the third real
fourth estate the public the third real option of going to the press was fraught
option of going to the press was fraught with enormous peril at a minimum you
with enormous peril at a minimum you would no doubt be
would no doubt be fired
fired or worse
it had been nearly one year since the new york times had refused to publish
new york times had refused to publish the investigation into the nsa
during that year the program had grown dramatically
the program had grown dramatically terabytes
terabytes huge amounts of information about
huge amounts of information about americans telephone calls and emails had
americans telephone calls and emails had been clandestinely captured
finally reporter james risen from the new york times had had enough
new york times had had enough he decided to strike out on his own
the story was dead now twice dead and i thought the only way to ever get this
thought the only way to ever get this story out was to put it in a book
story out was to put it in a book ryzen had a surprise for eric leschbauer
ryzen had a surprise for eric leschbauer he invited him to drive over to his
he invited him to drive over to his house to read a draft chapter of the
house to read a draft chapter of the book the story the new york times had
book the story the new york times had refused to print
refused to print chapter was just called the program
chapter was just called the program in it he basically
in it he basically made known the existence of this program
made known the existence of this program and the fact that that the
and the fact that that the administration had gotten the paper to
administration had gotten the paper to spike the story i said i want to make
spike the story i said i want to make sure it's okay with you and he said the
sure it's okay with you and he said the only thing i ask is you know put my name
only thing i ask is you know put my name in there too
in there too it did not take long for the editors at
it did not take long for the editors at the new york times to get word of what
the new york times to get word of what ryzen was planning
ryzen was planning i began to hear through the grapevine
i began to hear through the grapevine that he might include the nsa story in
that he might include the nsa story in the book
the book so that led to a series of you know very
so that led to a series of you know very awkward conversations with jim the
awkward conversations with jim the editors were furious at me
editors were furious at me they thought i was being insubordinate
they thought i was being insubordinate he had a gun to their head they are
he had a gun to their head they are really being forced to reconsider the
really being forced to reconsider the papers gonna look pretty
papers gonna look pretty pretty bad
pretty bad [Music]
[Music] that led to
that led to uh
uh this massive game of chicken
this massive game of chicken uh between me
uh between me my book me my book and the new york
my book me my book and the new york times over the next few months
inside the times the editor who had killed the story 12 months earlier now
killed the story 12 months earlier now faced a hard choice
faced a hard choice because we had to either decide we're
because we had to either decide we're still not ready to run this story or the
still not ready to run this story or the situation has changed sufficiently that
situation has changed sufficiently that we are ready to run the story in which
we are ready to run the story in which case
we better get the story you know in the best possible shape and let the
best possible shape and let the administration know
on a frigid december evening editors bill keller phil taubman and new york
bill keller phil taubman and new york times publisher arthur salzberger were
times publisher arthur salzberger were summoned to the white house
it was indeed a dark and stormy night i remember it
remember it it was dark and it was stormy and we
it was dark and it was stormy and we were in the oval mr solzberg began to
were in the oval mr solzberg began to speak and the president said i'm going
speak and the president said i'm going to go first
to go first i want to talk to you about this program
i want to talk to you about this program i want to talk to you about why this is
i want to talk to you about why this is important why we think it saves lives
important why we think it saves lives and why it should not be made public
and why it should not be made public the president turned the meeting over to
the president turned the meeting over to general hayden for one of his famous
general hayden for one of his famous briefings
briefings it's hard to brief in the oval you know
it's hard to brief in the oval you know you can't
you can't no visual aids hard to roll out
no visual aids hard to roll out something in front of somebody so i gave
something in front of somebody so i gave him the best explanation of the program
him the best explanation of the program i could but i did bring up specific
i could but i did bring up specific examples
examples the example he gives them is a plot in
the example he gives them is a plot in which uh radical is planning to bring
which uh radical is planning to bring down the brooklyn bridge apparently with
down the brooklyn bridge apparently with a device similar to a blowtorch and it
a device similar to a blowtorch and it actually kind of makes the times editors
actually kind of makes the times editors kind of scratch their heads because they
kind of scratch their heads because they think this is kind of uh
think this is kind of uh surprising that somebody could sit there
surprising that somebody could sit there with a blowtorch or something like that
with a blowtorch or something like that and and and bring down the brooklyn
and and and bring down the brooklyn bridge without anybody noticing him and
bridge without anybody noticing him and stopping him first seemed absurd to them
stopping him first seemed absurd to them i think arthur believes that the
i think arthur believes that the president may have cracked a smile on
president may have cracked a smile on when the when the bringing down the
when the when the bringing down the brooklyn bridge item came up but maybe
brooklyn bridge item came up but maybe that's just
a wishful memory the president then played his trump card
the president then played his trump card threatening that the new york times
threatening that the new york times would be responsible for the next attack
would be responsible for the next attack he said you know listen if you guys
he said you know listen if you guys published this article
published this article and there is another 911
and there is another 911 we're going to be called before congress
we're going to be called before congress to explain how we failed to prevent it
to explain how we failed to prevent it and you should be in the chair beside us
and you should be in the chair beside us explaining
explaining because you'll be complicit
because you'll be complicit in allowing
damage to our country he was saying in effect
he was saying in effect you
you arthur salzburger will have blood on
arthur salzburger will have blood on your hands if there's another attack
your hands if there's another attack that could have been prevented by this
that could have been prevented by this program
program [Music]
[Music] you know i think anybody would
you know i think anybody would feel goosebumps
feel goosebumps the new york times broke the story about
the new york times broke the story about the national security nevertheless the
the national security nevertheless the times decided to publish the story
times decided to publish the story revealing the existence of the program
revealing the existence of the program four years now the nsa has been secretly
four years now the nsa has been secretly spying on its own citizens
spying on its own citizens the new york times story in december
the new york times story in december 2005 just shocked the world the extent
2005 just shocked the world the extent of unchecked domestic surveillance is
of unchecked domestic surveillance is far greater than previously it is the
far greater than previously it is the definition in most people's minds of
definition in most people's minds of illegal government activity
illegal government activity with the bombshell of a story in the new
with the bombshell of a story in the new york times today than the nsa they were
york times today than the nsa they were in crisis mode at the white house all
in crisis mode at the white house all eyes were on president bush
eyes were on president bush we call it the big paws
we call it the big paws [Music]
[Music] okay when stuff like this goes public
okay when stuff like this goes public what's the big guy going to do
what's the big guy going to do is he going to man up and support you
is he going to man up and support you or
or suddenly get reflective on you
suddenly get reflective on you and for once the president actually
and for once the president actually decides he's going to come out and
decides he's going to come out and address it directly he goes on the
address it directly he goes on the offensive to try to
offensive to try to push back against critics who said he
push back against critics who said he went too far
went too far it would be a first
it would be a first an admission the program existed
an admission the program existed this is a highly classified program
this is a highly classified program that is crucial to our national security
that is crucial to our national security its purpose is to detect and prevent
its purpose is to detect and prevent terrorist attacks against the united
terrorist attacks against the united states
states our friends and allies the president
our friends and allies the president comes out and and minimizes what he
comes out and and minimizes what he describes as the program
describes as the program and um he gives a very truncated
and um he gives a very truncated description of what they're doing that
description of what they're doing that sounds you know i think probably not too
sounds you know i think probably not too worrisome to most americans i authorize
worrisome to most americans i authorize the national security agency
the national security agency consistent with u.s law and the
consistent with u.s law and the constitution
constitution to intercept
to intercept the international communications of
the international communications of people
people with known leaks links to al qaeda and
with known leaks links to al qaeda and related terrorist organizations
related terrorist organizations it was the least controversial and
it was the least controversial and smallest element of the program
smallest element of the program there was no reference to the massive
there was no reference to the massive gathering of domestic communications
gathering of domestic communications data
data his characterization of the fact was
his characterization of the fact was simply wrong and it was wrong from the
simply wrong and it was wrong from the beginning
beginning the program wasn't to
the program wasn't to surveil known suspects
surveil known suspects known conspirators
known conspirators you could easily get a warrant for that
you could easily get a warrant for that the program was to sift big data was to
the program was to sift big data was to trawl through enormous volumes
trawl through enormous volumes literally trillions of telephone calls
literally trillions of telephone calls trillions of emails
trillions of emails and
and to look for unknown conspirators
to look for unknown conspirators once again it would be left to general
once again it would be left to general hayden to brief the press
hayden to brief the press he too minimized the scale of the
he too minimized the scale of the program
program this is targeted this is focused this is
this is targeted this is focused this is about al-qaeda one end of any call
about al-qaeda one end of any call targeted under this program is always
targeted under this program is always outside the united states
outside the united states when they ask questions about how
when they ask questions about how widespread
widespread the program was he confined it to this
the program was he confined it to this little part of the program that had
little part of the program that had leaked and did not address all the other
leaked and did not address all the other parts that were far worse that had not
parts that were far worse that had not leaked
leaked there was no mention that the nsa was
there was no mention that the nsa was tracking telephone calls and emails
tracking telephone calls and emails inside the united states
inside the united states and hayden even dismissed the idea that
and hayden even dismissed the idea that there had been any internal dissent
there had been any internal dissent about the program
about the program not a single employee of the national
not a single employee of the national security agency has addressed a concern
security agency has addressed a concern about this program to the nsaid
about this program to the nsaid should also add that no
should also add that no member of the nsa workforce
member of the nsa workforce who has been asked to be included in
who has been asked to be included in this program has responded to that
this program has responded to that request with anything except enthusiasm
request with anything except enthusiasm general hayden's press conference
general hayden's press conference introduced many of the tactics that the
introduced many of the tactics that the administration has used to deflect
administration has used to deflect questioning and also to mislead the
questioning and also to mislead the public
public and i was amazed at what he was saying
and i was amazed at what he was saying because it was not truthful it was
because it was not truthful it was misleading
misleading and that was the beginning of the
and that was the beginning of the spinning and the lies
spinning and the lies bush heads to the nsa as part of his
bush heads to the nsa as part of his week-long glitch to defend his
week-long glitch to defend his controversial wiretapping program
yesterday it was the president today the attorney general speaks out on the
attorney general speaks out on the matter will visit one of the nation's
matter will visit one of the nation's most secret buildings today at the
most secret buildings today at the national security agency thomas drake
national security agency thomas drake was watching the white house's reaction
was watching the white house's reaction carefully
carefully drake watches what top levels of the u.s
drake watches what top levels of the u.s government saying about this program and
government saying about this program and he thinks they're lying i realized that
he thinks they're lying i realized that they were lying that they were desperate
they were lying that they were desperate to protect the domestic surveillance
to protect the domestic surveillance program
program he knows it's much more than what
he knows it's much more than what they're describing and and and and this
they're describing and and and and this makes him mad the far larger program
makes him mad the far larger program was the dragnet surveillance the vast
was the dragnet surveillance the vast bulk copy
bulk copy of millions and millions of phone
of millions and millions of phone records email records internet usage and
records email records internet usage and financial transactional
financial transactional and credit card information
and credit card information drake had been complaining internally
drake had been complaining internally about the program for more than four
about the program for more than four years
years now he said he had run out of options
now he said he had run out of options all the internal proper channels had
all the internal proper channels had been exhausted the one final choice was
been exhausted the one final choice was to actually touch the third rail and go
to actually touch the third rail and go to the press
to the press drake decided to act on his own without
drake decided to act on his own without the thin thread team
the thin thread team he'd reach out to a newspaper reporter
he'd reach out to a newspaper reporter siobhan gorman worked for the baltimore
siobhan gorman worked for the baltimore sun
sun he just reaches out to her in a way that
he just reaches out to her in a way that he thinks is
he thinks is secret
secret using all kinds of protected hush mail
using all kinds of protected hush mail to tell her he wants to talk to her and
to tell her he wants to talk to her and might have documents to share with her
might have documents to share with her drake said that he would only provide
drake said that he would only provide unclassified material
unclassified material it's a pretty classic whistleblower kind
it's a pretty classic whistleblower kind of move that he makes and he's careful
of move that he makes and he's careful he thinks not to violate any kind of
he thinks not to violate any kind of national security laws
national security laws in in reaching out to her
in in reaching out to her gorman will not acknowledge that drake
gorman will not acknowledge that drake was her source but she says she knows
was her source but she says she knows why she received the leaks
why she received the leaks there were a number of people at nsa
there were a number of people at nsa that were just very unhappy and i think
that were just very unhappy and i think that the revelation of warrantless
that the revelation of warrantless surveillance probably
surveillance probably did
did loosen up
loosen up some concerns that some people inside
some concerns that some people inside nsa might have had
nsa might have had at first drake remained completely
at first drake remained completely anonymous
anonymous communicating entirely by encrypted
communicating entirely by encrypted email
email she had no idea who i was
she had no idea who i was i ultimately was referred to as just a
i ultimately was referred to as just a senior official it was sort of an
senior official it was sort of an agreement as to how she would couch who
agreement as to how she would couch who i was in her reporting but i was a deep
i was in her reporting but i was a deep i was a deep source
i was a deep source baltimore sun reports today that the nsa
baltimore sun reports today that the nsa rejected and so i provided her
rejected and so i provided her unclassified information about the
unclassified information about the secret surveillance program
secret surveillance program gorman would write a series of lengthy
gorman would write a series of lengthy stories a deep investigation into the
stories a deep investigation into the nsa thin thread and the warrantless
nsa thin thread and the warrantless surveillance of millions of americans
surveillance of millions of americans foreign
but drake wasn't the only leaker other stories broke
other stories broke the high ranking
the high ranking the new york times revealed the story of
the new york times revealed the story of that standoff in attorney general
that standoff in attorney general ashcroft's hospital room
ashcroft's hospital room and a leak to usa today
and a leak to usa today revealed the government had been
revealed the government had been collecting the phone records of tens of
collecting the phone records of tens of millions of americans
vice president cheney was furious he was determined to stop the leakers
he was determined to stop the leakers you've known dick cheney i've known him
you've known dick cheney i've known him for a long time he was always upset
for a long time he was always upset about leakers so it wasn't this was not
about leakers so it wasn't this was not out of character fit within the
out of character fit within the character that he was whether he was
character that he was whether he was secretary of defense or
secretary of defense or chief of staff to the president
chief of staff to the president the investigation would be run by the
the investigation would be run by the fbi
fbi a massive manhunt for the leakers led by
a massive manhunt for the leakers led by the new attorney general alberto
the new attorney general alberto gonzalez
gonzalez they had broke the law
they had broke the law they leaked classified information
they leaked classified information that's against the law the the job of
that's against the law the the job of the department of justice to prosecute
the department of justice to prosecute those who break the law
the agents began their investigation across the street at the department of
across the street at the department of justice itself
justice itself calling everyone who had worked with the
calling everyone who had worked with the fisa court
fisa court including thomas tan
then he starts getting phone calls from this fbi agent jason lawless at work
this fbi agent jason lawless at work he's ducking the calls
he's ducking the calls terrified tam refused to return the
terrified tam refused to return the calls
calls i was preoccupied
i was preoccupied with what was going to happen to me and
with what was going to happen to me and when you know when it was going to
when you know when it was going to happen what was going to happen if it
happen what was going to happen if it was going to happen and finally um
was going to happen and finally um wallace gets them on the phone and says
wallace gets them on the phone and says hey this will only take a few minutes
hey this will only take a few minutes but tan panicked and quickly sealed his
but tan panicked and quickly sealed his fate
fate i told him that
i told him that i chose not to talk to him i chose to
i chose not to talk to him i chose to exercise my rights under the
exercise my rights under the constitution to not be a witness against
constitution to not be a witness against myself
myself and of course i knew that
and of course i knew that you know that immediately would send up
you know that immediately would send up red flags and that i would immediately
red flags and that i would immediately be
be their primary suspect
their primary suspect thomas tam resigned from the justice
thomas tam resigned from the justice department he began to wait for a
department he began to wait for a federal indictment
a story that has now triggered a justice department
department in cambridge massachusetts jack
in cambridge massachusetts jack goldsmith had settled in as a professor
goldsmith had settled in as a professor at harvard law school
at harvard law school one morning he was summoned to a meeting
one morning he was summoned to a meeting in harvard square with two fbi agents
in harvard square with two fbi agents as we were sitting down at the table
as we were sitting down at the table over coffee one of the agents
over coffee one of the agents sort of sheepishly handed me a manila
sort of sheepishly handed me a manila envelope
envelope and he said that it was a subpoena to be
and he said that it was a subpoena to be for a grand jury investigation into the
for a grand jury investigation into the leak of the new york times
leak of the new york times and he was very
and he was very embarrassed and sheepish about this
embarrassed and sheepish about this the subpoena was issued under the
the subpoena was issued under the leadership of attorney general alberto
leadership of attorney general alberto gonzalez
gonzalez it seemed particularly ironic that the
it seemed particularly ironic that the justice department was coming after me
justice department was coming after me for illegal actions or allegedly illegal
for illegal actions or allegedly illegal actions or possibly illegal actions
actions or possibly illegal actions taken in connection with this program
by the summer of 2007 it had been more than 18 months since
it had been more than 18 months since the fbi had begun its investigation
the fbi had begun its investigation they had little to show for it
they had little to show for it they decided to up the ante
they decided to up the ante they would conduct a series of early
they would conduct a series of early morning raids on the houses of their
morning raids on the houses of their primary suspects
primary suspects at nine o'clock eastern standard time
at nine o'clock eastern standard time the fbi
the fbi with guns drawn
with guns drawn raids
raids the homes
the homes of benny
of benny and
and weeby
weeby and out on the west coast
and out on the west coast they raided the home of diane brourk
they raided the home of diane brourk waking her up
waking her up it was quite shocking in fact they went
it was quite shocking in fact they went through the whole house and went through
through the whole house and went through every every book every paper every
every every book every paper every every drawer
every drawer turned the mattress over you know it was
turned the mattress over you know it was it was quite shocking
it was quite shocking it's nine o'clock in the morning and i
it's nine o'clock in the morning and i see these blue uniform with gold fbi on
see these blue uniform with gold fbi on the back people coming across left to
the back people coming across left to right and i said
right and i said well it sent a chill through me
well it sent a chill through me immediately
immediately well at first i knew the fbi was in my
well at first i knew the fbi was in my house was the guy pointing a gun at me
house was the guy pointing a gun at me when i was coming out of the shower they
when i was coming out of the shower they took uh
took uh my computer all all the electronic
my computer all all the electronic hardware
hardware discs and things that go with that any
discs and things that go with that any kind of electric electronic storage
kind of electric electronic storage device
device and they also took some of my magazines
and they also took some of my magazines technical magazines and papers and
technical magazines and papers and things like that
things like that and then they hit one more
and then they hit one more ed loomis
my my life was in a shambles at that point i
my wife was hysterical she couldn't believe
believe what had just occurred i couldn't
what had just occurred i couldn't believe what just occurred and i had no
believe what just occurred and i had no no insight into why it had
no insight into why it had you know this
you know this button is nsa's second highest award
button is nsa's second highest award and i wonder what it was that i did
and i wonder what it was that i did personally so wrong that i deserve this
personally so wrong that i deserve this kind of treatment
kind of treatment here i am an eagle scout
here i am an eagle scout a retired scout master and a devout
a retired scout master and a devout patriot and my
patriot and my patriotism is being questioned by the
patriotism is being questioned by the government that i'd serve
government that i'd serve for 43 years
for 43 years i i just couldn't
i i just couldn't it just didn't make sense to me
it just didn't make sense to me you you feel pretty low
you you feel pretty low your self-esteem takes a big hit
your self-esteem takes a big hit there's discord in the family because
there's discord in the family because kids family wife may ask you
kids family wife may ask you well what did you do
well what did you do to bring this upon the house
to bring this upon the house it tore me up i it
it tore me up i it i was
i was i was i became a recluse pretty much
i was i became a recluse pretty much uh i cut off virtually all social
uh i cut off virtually all social contact with friends
contact with friends it was it was rough
it was it was rough very rough
very rough ed
ed probably
probably took it worse in terms of cost to family
took it worse in terms of cost to family and self
and self physically mentally
physically mentally because ed went into the shadows he
because ed went into the shadows he became a recluse quiet
became a recluse quiet um he lost his wife it's it's still
um he lost his wife it's it's still eating at me but i've
eating at me but i've i've
i've i've told my family i've told my i told
i've told my family i've told my i told my father before he passed away
i know i've done nothing wrong [Music]
[Music] the fbi considered them persons of
the fbi considered them persons of interest for leaking to the new york
interest for leaking to the new york times
times but they all insisted they hadn't and
but they all insisted they hadn't and new york times reporter james risen
new york times reporter james risen agrees i didn't know any of them and i
agrees i didn't know any of them and i just felt badly that they were
just felt badly that they were getting caught up in something that was
getting caught up in something that was completely unrelated
completely unrelated i knew that couldn't be true that that
i knew that couldn't be true that that was just
was just collateral damage
collateral damage tom drake's home was not raided by the
tom drake's home was not raided by the fbi that day
fbi that day but drake had the feeling that he was
but drake had the feeling that he was next
next almost six months goes by and drake
almost six months goes by and drake still hasn't been raided but then
still hasn't been raided but then on the morning of november 28th 2007.
on the morning of november 28th 2007. i'm seeing these cars pull up as i look
i'm seeing these cars pull up as i look out the window just after 7 a.m in the
out the window just after 7 a.m in the morning and there's a dozen fbi agents
morning and there's a dozen fbi agents and my heart's up in my throat because i
and my heart's up in my throat because i realize
realize it's now me
the fbi search warrant said that they were looking for evidence that drake was
were looking for evidence that drake was the new york times leaker
the new york times leaker drake being drake sits down at his
drake being drake sits down at his kitchen table with the fbi agents
kitchen table with the fbi agents without a lawyer present
without a lawyer present and spends the entire day trying to
and spends the entire day trying to convince them that the real culprits are
convince them that the real culprits are the people at the nsa who have
the people at the nsa who have run this illegal program so i told them
run this illegal program so i told them everything i could but they didn't want
everything i could but they didn't want to hear about that they wanted to hear
to hear about that they wanted to hear about
about the new york times and sources
the new york times and sources the fbi carted away drake's computers
the fbi carted away drake's computers and boxes of his papers
and boxes of his papers drake waited
drake waited a few months later
a few months later in april 2008 drake gets a summons to go
in april 2008 drake gets a summons to go meet with
meet with somebody who is described as somebody
somebody who is described as somebody very important
very important the meeting was with federal prosecutor
the meeting was with federal prosecutor stephen terrell
stephen terrell when drake sits down terrell says to him
when drake sits down terrell says to him mr drake
mr drake you are screwed
you are screwed terrell had no hard evidence drake ever
terrell had no hard evidence drake ever spoke to the new york times or that he
spoke to the new york times or that he had given any classified material to the
had given any classified material to the baltimore sun
baltimore sun nevertheless
nevertheless darrell said the fbi had discovered
darrell said the fbi had discovered classified documents on drake's computer
classified documents on drake's computer and in his basement
and in his basement a felony
he proceeded to tell me how would you like to spend the rest of your life in
like to spend the rest of your life in prison mr drake unless you cooperate
prison mr drake unless you cooperate with our investigation we have more than
with our investigation we have more than enough information to put you away for a
enough information to put you away for a long long time you better start talking
and they talked numbers you know 478 months
478 months 35 years
35 years the government said he would have the
the government said he would have the blood of soldiers on his hands for what
blood of soldiers on his hands for what he did
he did terrell wanted drake to confess and
terrell wanted drake to confess and admit that he was the center of a
admit that he was the center of a conspiracy involving rorke binney and
conspiracy involving rorke binney and the others i was not going to plead out
the others i was not going to plead out and he was all ticked off and he says
and he was all ticked off and he says well we'll just have to go with what we
well we'll just have to go with what we got
drake and the others faced decades in federal prison
federal prison and at least tens of thousands of
and at least tens of thousands of dollars in legal bills
dollars in legal bills desperate they came to believe they had
desperate they came to believe they had only one chance
[Applause] as it happened 2008 was a presidential
as it happened 2008 was a presidential election year
election year and there was one candidate who was
and there was one candidate who was promising a change are you fired up
promising a change are you fired up ready to go
ready to go fired up
fired up ready to go
ready to go no more secrecy that's a commitment i
no more secrecy that's a commitment i make to you as president he's promising
make to you as president he's promising to be the most transparent
to be the most transparent administration history
administration history he believes that there's been too much
he believes that there's been too much secrecy
secrecy he made a real point of owning these
he made a real point of owning these kinds of arguments both as a senator and
kinds of arguments both as a senator and then on the campaign trail it's time for
then on the campaign trail it's time for us to change america and that's why i'm
us to change america and that's why i'm running for president barack obama even
running for president barack obama even embraced the importance of
embraced the importance of whistleblowers
whistleblowers obama throughout his history as a
obama throughout his history as a champion of whistleblowers arguing that
champion of whistleblowers arguing that they're the folks who help make
they're the folks who help make government better and reveal conduct
government better and reveal conduct that if not is illegal uh is
that if not is illegal uh is questionable i certainly had a lot of
questionable i certainly had a lot of hope and i had a lot of hope for hope
hope and i had a lot of hope for hope and change
and change but i actually thought that somebody
but i actually thought that somebody might say
might say you know you actually did the right
you know you actually did the right thing
thing this administration
this administration and when it came to the secrecy
and when it came to the secrecy surrounding the creation of the program
surrounding the creation of the program obama was forceful
obama was forceful i will provide our intelligence and law
i will provide our intelligence and law enforcement agencies with the tools they
enforcement agencies with the tools they need to track and take out the
need to track and take out the terrorists without undermining our
terrorists without undermining our constitution and our freedom
constitution and our freedom that means no more illegal wiretapping
that means no more illegal wiretapping of american citizens it's not a
of american citizens it's not a calibrated statement this is a political
calibrated statement this is a political statement this is in his words
statement this is in his words surveillance state run amok no more
surveillance state run amok no more ignoring the law when it is inconvenient
ignoring the law when it is inconvenient that is not who we are
that is not who we are and it's not what is necessary to defeat
and it's not what is necessary to defeat the terrorists it was like he was back
the terrorists it was like he was back at the university of chicago as a
at the university of chicago as a constitutional scholar you know he he
constitutional scholar you know he he sounded like an aclu lawyer
sounded like an aclu lawyer at the white house in the waning months
at the white house in the waning months of the bush administration they were
of the bush administration they were determined to find a way to make the
determined to find a way to make the program permanent
program permanent the debate shifted pretty quickly to
the debate shifted pretty quickly to congress in terms of
congress in terms of debating whether or not the
debating whether or not the administration should get the power to
administration should get the power to do what they were doing
do what they were doing the president decided to try to convince
the president decided to try to convince congress to enshrine the program into
congress to enshrine the program into law
law for president bush is really a
for president bush is really a significant reversal he's decided he
significant reversal he's decided he needs congress to back up what he's done
needs congress to back up what he's done he in effect is abandoning his claim
he in effect is abandoning his claim that he has the power under article two
that he has the power under article two of the constitution to do this without
of the constitution to do this without congress
congress the administration proposed to amend the
the administration proposed to amend the fisa law
fisa law and insisted it was reform
and insisted it was reform but insiders knew it granted the nsa
but insiders knew it granted the nsa unprecedented power
unprecedented power the fisa amendment act of 2008 actually
the fisa amendment act of 2008 actually allows some of the things we were doing
allows some of the things we were doing under the president's authority only
under the president's authority only against al qaeda it allows them for all
against al qaeda it allows them for all legitimate foreign intelligence purposes
legitimate foreign intelligence purposes so in a sense the vice amendment act not
so in a sense the vice amendment act not only validates the terrorist
only validates the terrorist surveillance program it expands it
at the united states congress the administration secretly made the case
administration secretly made the case for the bill at closed hearings of the
for the bill at closed hearings of the intelligence committees
intelligence committees you had to read it very very closely to
you had to read it very very closely to understand what they were doing and i
understand what they were doing and i don't think people knew
don't think people knew what actually the intent of that was
what actually the intent of that was the intent of that
the intent of that was to make legal
was to make legal all of the programs that
all of the programs that the attorney general
the attorney general uh the fbi director had said they had a
uh the fbi director had said they had a problem with
problem with publicly the president would press
publicly the president would press lawmakers with a familiar warning
lawmakers with a familiar warning pass this law or americans could die
pass this law or americans could die without this law
without this law our ability to prevent new attacks will
our ability to prevent new attacks will be weakened
be weakened and it will become harder for us to
and it will become harder for us to uncover terrorist plots
uncover terrorist plots we must not allow this to happen
we must not allow this to happen it is time for congress to pass a law
it is time for congress to pass a law candidate barack obama now faced a
candidate barack obama now faced a choice
choice would he vote against the president's
would he vote against the president's bill
bill i remember when uh the bill came forward
i remember when uh the bill came forward there was some uh discussion as to
there was some uh discussion as to whether or not he would support it
whether or not he would support it the senate is expected to vote on a
the senate is expected to vote on a controversial measure he was thinking
controversial measure he was thinking ahead to the general election and how he
ahead to the general election and how he was a
was a young senator with a lot not a lot of
young senator with a lot not a lot of national security experience and how he
national security experience and how he needed
needed to be seen as being tough on these
to be seen as being tough on these issues
issues in private a tougher more determined
in private a tougher more determined obama was emerging
obama was emerging i remember the first conversation i ever
i remember the first conversation i ever had with him
had with him during the campaign
during the campaign i said look when you become president
i said look when you become president you have to kill people
you have to kill people and are you willing to pull the trigger
and are you willing to pull the trigger are you willing to do that side of the
are you willing to do that side of the job
job and he got very silent and looked at me
and he got very silent and looked at me in a very steely kind of way and said
in a very steely kind of way and said i know that and i can do that
i know that and i can do that u.s senate a returning final vote on the
u.s senate a returning final vote on the fisa bill setting new rules for
fisa bill setting new rules for electronic surveillance and now obama
electronic surveillance and now obama had a chance to enhance his national
had a chance to enhance his national security
security to eavesdrop credentials both domestic
to eavesdrop credentials both domestic and international communications
and international communications for all of his criticism in the past for
for all of his criticism in the past for all of his background as constitutional
all of his background as constitutional lawyer and civil libertarian he chooses
lawyer and civil libertarian he chooses to accept the rather expansive law and
to accept the rather expansive law and he votes for it mr obama
he votes for it mr obama uh senator obama getting a lot of heat
uh senator obama getting a lot of heat for this vote much of it from his own
for this vote much of it from his own senator barack obama voted for the
senator barack obama voted for the surveillance bill despite his opposition
surveillance bill despite his opposition to it in the past
to it in the past [Music]
[Music] off to work for president obama it's a
off to work for president obama it's a busy first day takes over two wars a
busy first day takes over two wars a staggering economy and a soaring federal
staggering economy and a soaring federal budget six months later barack obama was
budget six months later barack obama was the new president and the
on national commander-in-chief right from the stadium
right from the stadium and other military advisors the first
and other military advisors the first time that barack obama
time that barack obama ever learns about the full scale of this
ever learns about the full scale of this program is an early briefing in the
program is an early briefing in the situation room about all of the data
situation room about all of the data that the nsa is collecting in these
that the nsa is collecting in these domestic surveillance programs the point
domestic surveillance programs the point of the briefing was to
of the briefing was to provide the president and the new
provide the president and the new national security team at the white
national security team at the white house with an overview of how these
house with an overview of how these programs worked
programs worked what the value of the programs was
what the value of the programs was the legal structures that supported the
the legal structures that supported the programs what the authority was
programs what the authority was he was told about the trillions of phone
he was told about the trillions of phone calls
calls emails and internet data that had been
emails and internet data that had been secretly gathered
secretly gathered as we talked about these programs the
as we talked about these programs the way they were used in particular the
way they were used in particular the value of the collection of content of an
value of the collection of content of an extraordinarily vital tool that
extraordinarily vital tool that that the idea was all right this is a
that the idea was all right this is a really important program we need to
really important program we need to maintain it
maintain it the president's closest advisors
the president's closest advisors insisted the program was necessary
insisted the program was necessary there was very strong view in the
there was very strong view in the intelligence community that this was an
intelligence community that this was an important program that it did fill an
important program that it did fill an important gap
important gap the new president faced a decision
the new president faced a decision whether to dramatically restrict the
whether to dramatically restrict the program
program i think that the president approached
i think that the president approached this with the degree of seriousness that
this with the degree of seriousness that you would hope and expect from the
you would hope and expect from the president of the united states
president of the united states when you get into office when you're the
when you get into office when you're the man when you're in the white house
man when you're in the white house you don't want to give up any tools that
you don't want to give up any tools that you inherit you don't want to give up
you inherit you don't want to give up anything that might get you that one
anything that might get you that one fact
fact that will stop an attack
that will stop an attack he made his decision
he made his decision the program would continue
the program would continue he had a chance to say well that's too
he had a chance to say well that's too far let's let's not
far let's let's not sweeping quite so many people who don't
sweeping quite so many people who don't have anything to do with terrorism as
have anything to do with terrorism as part of this broad sweep and he chose to
part of this broad sweep and he chose to keep the programs largely intact i'm not
keep the programs largely intact i'm not aware of any case
aware of any case in which obama pushed back hard and said
in which obama pushed back hard and said you can't do that
convinced the program was effective and necessary obama would now own it
at the nsa they were now spending more than 10 billion a year on capturing
than 10 billion a year on capturing communications of people around the
communications of people around the world
world the nsa was on the verge of what it came
the nsa was on the verge of what it came to call the golden age of electronic
to call the golden age of electronic surveillance because there was so much
surveillance because there was so much more communication so much more data
more communication so much more data so much better computer capacity to
so much better computer capacity to process it
process it and it was there for the taking
and it was there for the taking to run the operations the nsa relied on
to run the operations the nsa relied on a number of private contractors
a number of private contractors companies that could provide highly
companies that could provide highly skilled computer programmers and
skilled computer programmers and engineers
engineers the
the nsa cia and other intelligence services
nsa cia and other intelligence services suddenly realized that they needed
suddenly realized that they needed people with those kind of
people with those kind of skills
skills twenty-five-year-old edward snowden was
twenty-five-year-old edward snowden was one of them
one of them a high school dropout snowden had grown
a high school dropout snowden had grown up just 20 minutes from the nsa
up just 20 minutes from the nsa he grew up in in the community where
he grew up in in the community where lots of people who are in the military
lots of people who are in the military in the intelligence community live his
in the intelligence community live his father was on the coast guard for 30
father was on the coast guard for 30 years
years if you've been to a ron paul rally
if you've been to a ron paul rally you've seen lots of people who look
you've seen lots of people who look exactly like edward snowden you're a
exactly like edward snowden you're a young clean-cut student
young clean-cut student you know passionate passionate about the
you know passionate passionate about the constitution snowden had enlisted in the
constitution snowden had enlisted in the army but left after breaking both of his
army but left after breaking both of his legs in training
legs in training and he had the reaction after 9 11 that
and he had the reaction after 9 11 that a lot of patriotic
a lot of patriotic young americans had which is i'd like to
young americans had which is i'd like to do my part and that brought him to
do my part and that brought him to the nsa and the cia and the worlds of
the nsa and the cia and the worlds of secret intelligence
secret intelligence by 2009 snowden was working as an nsa
by 2009 snowden was working as an nsa contractor in japan
contractor in japan the job provided him extensive access to
the job provided him extensive access to the details of nsa operations he really
the details of nsa operations he really began to understand the true scope of
began to understand the true scope of how much the nsa had gotten its hands
how much the nsa had gotten its hands into the backbone of the internet
into the backbone of the internet the more snowden saw
the more snowden saw the more disturbed he became
the more disturbed he became it was a gradual accumulation of
it was a gradual accumulation of evidence and of observations that led
evidence and of observations that led him to think
him to think something's going wrong here the balance
something's going wrong here the balance is out of whack
is out of whack the
the surveillance of ordinary people is far
surveillance of ordinary people is far greater than i would have imagined
greater than i would have imagined and far greater than the american public
and far greater than the american public has been able to debate
one of the key documents snowden discovered
discovered a classified inspector general report
a classified inspector general report detailing the history of the program
detailing the history of the program it tells the entire secret history of
it tells the entire secret history of the program it talks about
the program it talks about addington and hayden writing
addington and hayden writing the authorization for the program
the authorization for the program according to general hayden the vice
according to general hayden the vice president's council david addington
president's council david addington drafted the first authorization talks
drafted the first authorization talks about the rebellion at the justice
about the rebellion at the justice department consequently the white house
department consequently the white house counsel rather than the attorney general
counsel rather than the attorney general signed the 11 march 2004 authorization
signed the 11 march 2004 authorization it's the entire
it's the entire unadulterated history of these programs
unadulterated history of these programs and he told me
and he told me that reading
that reading the inspector general's report had made
the inspector general's report had made a big impression on him he felt like
a big impression on him he felt like people had done things
people had done things that were wrong and had not been held
that were wrong and had not been held accountable for them
no more and under president obama
and under president obama snowden watched as the program continued
snowden watched as the program continued his hope was that
his hope was that obama would
obama would be a force for transparency and that's
be a force for transparency and that's not what happened
not what happened and
and that was another of the pivotal moments
that was another of the pivotal moments in which snowden realized
in which snowden realized it was going to have to be him
it was going to have to be him as snowden was deciding exactly what to
as snowden was deciding exactly what to do
do obama's justice department began to
obama's justice department began to address those bush-era leak
address those bush-era leak investigations led by attorney general
investigations led by attorney general eric holder
what's interesting is that these cases from the bush era linger on they don't
from the bush era linger on they don't just throw them out they they revisit
just throw them out they they revisit them and they keep keep going after the
them and they keep keep going after the enemies of national security agencies
enemies of national security agencies much as they've done under bush
much as they've done under bush despite the campaign rhetoric in support
despite the campaign rhetoric in support of whistleblowers president obama did
of whistleblowers president obama did nothing to stop the prosecutions
nothing to stop the prosecutions this president personally
this president personally really doesn't like
really doesn't like people leaking classified information
people leaking classified information he takes that very seriously and he
he takes that very seriously and he thinks that we should all take it very
thinks that we should all take it very seriously
seriously in every conversation that obama had
in every conversation that obama had that i have heard about he said when it
that i have heard about he said when it comes to national security
comes to national security you leak classified information that
you leak classified information that could endanger people we're going to
could endanger people we're going to come down on you like a ton of bricks
come down on you like a ton of bricks and when the bricks fell they landed on
and when the bricks fell they landed on thomas drake they couldn't indict us all
thomas drake they couldn't indict us all so they went after the one that they
so they went after the one that they could at least
could at least show an example to the rest of the
show an example to the rest of the intelligence analysts you speak
intelligence analysts you speak you go to the press you're going to get
you go to the press you're going to get hammered
hammered these were the lessons that were
these were the lessons that were coming supposed to come out of being
coming supposed to come out of being rated and then in tom's case indicted
rated and then in tom's case indicted on april 14 2010 thomas drake was
on april 14 2010 thomas drake was finally charged
finally charged i was arraigned before i was arraigned
i was arraigned before i was arraigned before the judge i was fingerprinted you
before the judge i was fingerprinted you know by the u.s marshals with the fbi
know by the u.s marshals with the fbi you know agent watching
you know agent watching um
um you know i was i was a direct threat to
you know i was i was a direct threat to the national security of the united
the national security of the united states i truly had become an enemy of
states i truly had become an enemy of the state
the state drake was charged with violating the
drake was charged with violating the espionage act
espionage act and i'm facing a distinct prospect
and i'm facing a distinct prospect of having the rest of my life
spent behind bars effectively as he waited for his day in court
as he waited for his day in court drake's life began to fall apart he
drake's life began to fall apart he spent two years draining all his
spent two years draining all his resources on a private attorney
resources on a private attorney and then when he had no more money he
and then when he had no more money he had to go to a public defender
had to go to a public defender he was extraordinarily lonely
he was extraordinarily lonely i mean life had become already extremely
i mean life had become already extremely difficult all the income i had all
difficult all the income i had all retirement's gone your life is turned
retirement's gone your life is turned upside down
upside down your persona non grata i ended up
your persona non grata i ended up finding work initially part time then
finding work initially part time then full time at an apple store
full time at an apple store at the center of the government's case
at the center of the government's case were those documents found at drake's
were those documents found at drake's house
house prosecutors insisted they were
prosecutors insisted they were classified
classified drake's lawyers turned to author james
drake's lawyers turned to author james bamford
bamford i was hired as a consultant by the
i was hired as a consultant by the defense and was able to find basically
defense and was able to find basically all the information that they were
all the information that they were charging him with it was already in the
charging him with it was already in the public domain
public domain not only that it had been placed in the
not only that it had been placed in the public domain by the government
public domain by the government government itself i looked at the stuff
government itself i looked at the stuff that he was indicted for that material
that he was indicted for that material was clearly marked unclassified it was
was clearly marked unclassified it was not stamped classified until after it
not stamped classified until after it was seized from tom drake's home
was seized from tom drake's home and all they did was draw a line through
and all they did was draw a line through it and classified that material and so
it and classified that material and so then they charged him with having
then they charged him with having classified material
classified material it's like framing him and we're going to
it's like framing him and we're going to frame you after the fact
frame you after the fact the government later insisted the
the government later insisted the documents drake had contained national
documents drake had contained national secrets and were covered by the
secrets and were covered by the espionage law but then just days before
espionage law but then just days before the trial was to begin
the trial was to begin the charges against drake were dropped
the charges against drake were dropped it was astounding basically drake went
it was astounding basically drake went from someone charged with such serious
from someone charged with such serious crimes that he could spend the rest of
crimes that he could spend the rest of his life in prison to having it
his life in prison to having it bargained down because the justice
bargained down because the justice department could see it was falling
department could see it was falling apart
apart to a misdemeanor where he spent no time
to a misdemeanor where he spent no time at all in prison
at all in prison drake agreed to plead guilty to
drake agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor unauthorized use of a
misdemeanor unauthorized use of a government computer
government computer he was charged a 25 court fee
he was charged a 25 court fee put on probation for a year
put on probation for a year and given community service
none of the other suspects in the leak investigation were ever charged
it had been more than 10 years despite the revelations of insiders like
despite the revelations of insiders like drake and the news reports about the
drake and the news reports about the program
program there was little public outrage
there was little public outrage and few congressional critics
and few congressional critics the program was continuing to
grow but at a secret bunker in hawaii edward snowden was now working for a new
edward snowden was now working for a new nsa contractor
nsa contractor snowden was initiating his own move to
snowden was initiating his own move to expose the program
expose the program fbi has raided the offices established
fbi has raided the offices established to protect federal whistleblowers
to protect federal whistleblowers snowden studied carefully the actions of
snowden studied carefully the actions of the other whistleblowers
the other whistleblowers the thin thread group
and especially what he learned from drake and benny is
what he learned from drake and benny is that you can be discredited or people
that you can be discredited or people won't know whether to believe you if you
won't know whether to believe you if you don't have proof
don't have proof and it was because of that
and it was because of that that he decided it had to be documents
that he decided it had to be documents and it had to be a lot of documents new
and it had to be a lot of documents new york times broke the story after holding
york times broke the story after holding it for a year and unlike tam
it for a year and unlike tam snowden would not go to the new york
snowden would not go to the new york times paper faces questions about why it
times paper faces questions about why it held that story snowden was disgusted at
held that story snowden was disgusted at the new york times for you know having
the new york times for you know having that story before the election sitting
that story before the election sitting on it for month after month
on it for month after month and hit a real antipathy towards the new
and hit a real antipathy towards the new york times as a result of the way it
york times as a result of the way it behaved over uh ryzen
behaved over uh ryzen instead of the new york times
instead of the new york times snowden would reach out to glenn
snowden would reach out to glenn greenwald laura poitras and barton
greenwald laura poitras and barton gelman
gelman and he would begin systematically
and he would begin systematically copying and giving them documents that
copying and giving them documents that held many of the united states most
held many of the united states most closely guarded secrets
closely guarded secrets snowden had clearances for human
snowden had clearances for human intelligence he had clearances for many
intelligence he had clearances for many many compartments of electronic
many compartments of electronic surveillance
surveillance and he had a third set of powers which
and he had a third set of powers which is actually called super user
is actually called super user it's a very potent combination that
it's a very potent combination that opened
opened many many doors to him
many many doors to him here is this low-level analyst who is
here is this low-level analyst who is able to access
able to access if you believe the government 1.7
if you believe the government 1.7 million documents
million documents and walk out of the agency with them
and walk out of the agency with them without them having the slightest idea
without them having the slightest idea that it was taking place
that it was taking place this was a stupendous
this was a stupendous intelligence breach this was the largest
intelligence breach this was the largest collection of classified information
collection of classified information the largest leak of classified
the largest leak of classified information that had ever occurred in
information that had ever occurred in the history of the united states or
the history of the united states or indeed the history of the world
for the national security agency the biggest threat to the program
the biggest threat to the program was just beginning nsa has collected
was just beginning nsa has collected millions of contact lists
millions of contact lists hundreds of thousands of email address
hundreds of thousands of email address books every day could allow the nsa to
books every day could allow the nsa to map out a person's life
[Music] for more on this and other frontline
for more on this and other frontline programs visit our website at pbs.org
programs visit our website at pbs.org frontline
frontline's united states of secrets is available on dvd
available on dvd to order visit
to order visit shoppbs.org or call 1-800 play pbs
shoppbs.org or call 1-800 play pbs frontline is also available for download
frontline is also available for download on itunes
[Music] you
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