Danny Jones Podcast
#288 - Top NSA Official Reveals Darkest Secrets of the Deep State | Tom Drake
03 Mar 2025
Watch the exclusive fan Q&A with Tom on Patreon: https://patreon.com/dannyjones Thomas Drake is a former NSA senior executive who famously exposed the governments illegal domestic surveillance program. While at NSA, he blew the whistle on a multi-billion fraud and secret dragnet electronic surveillance and data mining program conducted by the NSA after 9/11. In April 2010 Tom was charged by the US Department of Justice with a 10 felony count Espionage Act indictment facing 35 years in prison, until the government's case against him collapsed in June 2011. SPONSORS https://shopmando.com - Use code DANNY for $5 off your starter pack. https://stopboxusa.com/danny - Use code DANNY to get BOGO StopBox Pro + 10% off. https://nordvpn.com/dannyjones - EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal: Risk-free w/ a money back guarantee. https://whiterabbitenergy.com/?ref=DJP - Use code DJP for 20% off GUEST LINKS https://x.com/Thomas_Drake1 FOLLOW DANNY JONES https://www.instagram.com/dannyjones https://twitter.com/jonesdanny OUTLINE 00:00 - Torture survival training 10:41 - Tom's first intelligence mission 18:36 - Nuclear War 38:31 - Being recruited by CIA 48:46 - Top secret Nuclear War protocols 55:56 - The keyhole program & SR-71 01:02:56 - Strategic deception 01:10:28 - The REAL deep state 01:19:15 - USAID 01:27:26 - Working the Pentagon's terrorism desk 01:35:14 - 1993 WTC bombing 01:44:58 - TWA Flight 800 01:53:06 - Military plane training exercises 01:56:18 - NSA's "jackpot" program 02:02:07 - NSA / Google Partnership 02:09:03 - Secret data hidden at NSA 02:21:26 - Government AI program in 1989 02:31:42 - What happened at NSA after 9/11 02:53:57 - How NSA & FISA betrayed the 4th amendment 02:57:28 - Legal punishments for whistleblowers 03:11:28 - Tom whistleblows to the press 03:20:08 - FBI raids Tom's home 03:37:35 - Tracking Osama Bin Laden 03:49:06 - Indicted for 35 years in prison 04:01:58 - Tom's plea agreement 04:14:03 - Meeting Elon Musk in 2007 04:23:23 - Tom's rare cancer battle 04:37:12 - Is America getting better or worse? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Full Episode
I've been waiting to have you on for a long time, man. John Cariocco has been on the show a few times and he's the one who connected us. So shout out to John. Love John. You guys are both in good company being fellow whistleblowers. You worked for the NSA, John worked for the CIA.
And for people out there who are listening to you, why don't you just, we're listening to the show for the first time and maybe may not be aware of who you are. Why don't you just give us like a brief introduction to your background?
Well, no one knew who I was until I became what I call an asterisked American at the point that the government made me a very public figure, especially in the United States, when I blew the whistle on a number of different things going on at NSA. So if you want to start there in terms of just – I'm in NSA as a senior executive.
Day one, when I reported to my duty station, reporting to number three person, was 9-11. That day was my first day on the job.
We'll talk about the whole story on how you blew the whistle on the NSA and how all that came to be. But going back before that, what made you decide you wanted to be in the NSA in the first place?
Long story. So in my early 20s, I made a choice. It's a volunteer military, so I volunteered. It's no draft. Technically, you have to register. So I joined the Air Force in late 1979. It was right before Christmas. after going through a bunch of screenings and tests.
And one of the tests you take is a very special test to see if you qualify for a very special program, which is in the crypto linguistics arena. And they actually make up a language.
Cryptolinguistics?
Cryptolinguistics.
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