Lawyers for Drake, including Jesselyn Radack, made the accusation in April. They allege that the government improperly destroyed documents relating to Drake’s work with a group of whistleblowers from 2002-2003, who legally cooperated with congressional and inspector general inquiries relating to NSA programs.
In 2010, the whistleblower was charged for leaking information about NSA spying to the media. Drake is one of only four individuals in US history to ever be charged under the “willful retention of national defense information” portion of the Espionage Act.
The following year, all charges against him were dropped, except for one to which he pleaded guilty: misusing the agency’s computer system, a misdemeanor. Drake avoided prison and was sentenced to one year probation and community service.
At the sentencing hearing, the judge slammed the government for charging a defendant with a laundry list of crimes which could have amounted to 35 years in prison, just to drop all major charges on the eve of the trial.
The investigation into the accusations was launched in May, when US Magistrate Judge Stephanie Gallagher told Justice Department lawyers that the judge who presided over Drake’s case, which ended nearly four years ago, asked her to “make recommendations as to whether any action by the court is warranted or appropriate.”
During the evidence gathering portion of Drake’s prosecution, his lawyers had attempted to obtain documentation relating to his cooperation with the Pentagon inspector general’s office for use in his defense, but were told that most of the documents had been destroyed according, they claimed, to policy.
“I investigated the destruction of documents and learned that the (the Pentagon inspector general’s office) does not have a document destruction policy,” Radack wrote in her letter to the judge. “Rather, (the inspector general’s office) has a Records Management Program, which dictated that the documents should have been retained.”
The complaint came after a series of secret complaints reportedly filed by multiple former and current officials from the Pentagon inspector general’s office about the office’s mishandling of whistleblower cases, McClatchyDC reported.
The anonymous group of officials reported to the Office of Special Counsel that their office had attempted to change findings in investigations to avoid political controversy.
Drake has long claimed he has been retaliated against by the NSA as he was not adequately protected as a whistleblower.
