Tom Drake is a former NSA senior executive turned whistleblower. Per John Kiriakou, Drake is the source for the public account of NSA Director Mike Hayden’s September 11, 2001 statement to NSA personnel — that the agency had been “waiting for a 9/11 so that they could implement the bigger program and grab everybody’s electronics.”[1]
Kiriakou’s framing of Drake’s position: “Tom Drake, the NSA whistleblower, will tell you that the systems already exist to spy on our enemies, protect Americans, and preserve civil liberties all at the same time. They existed.” Hayden’s post-9/11 program scrapped that approach.[1]