Thomas Drake is a decorated U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy veteran, and was a senior executive and technical director for NSA's software engineering and implementation - where he discovered and blew the whistle on massive multi-billion dollar fraud, waste, and abuse; the failures that led to 9/11; and the widespread violations of citizens' rights through secret mass surveillance programs after 9/11. After years of addressing these issues in vain thorough official channels, Drake finally went to the press - and soon became the first whistleblower since Daniel Ellsberg in 1971 to be charged with espionage. He faced spending the rest of his life in federal prison for defending the Constitution. After refusing to testify against his colleagues and demanding a jury trial, the government's case of all ten felony counts collapsed in 2011 and he went free. Drake is the recipient of the 2011 Ridenhour Truth Telling Prize, a joint recipient with Jesselyn Radack of the 2011 Sam Adams Associates Integrity in Intelligence Award, and the 2012 Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award. He has been keenly interested in the many developments within the hacker world over the years.