Thomas Drake is a former senior executive at the National Security Agency and whistleblower on post-9/11 mass surveillance and government abuse, and defendant in the Obama administration’s Espionage Act prosecution. He is featured in the documentary Silenced and on the “United States of Secrets” episode of PBS’s Frontline. His public policy PhD research examined the consequences of secrecy and the vital necessity of upholding constitutional rights in a security-driven age. He now speaks and writes on privacy, democracy, governance, and defending civil liberties and human rights.