Three National Security Agency whistleblowers offered statements in support of an Electronic...

“to seize and store most electronic communications passing through its U.S. intercept centers, such as the ’secret room’ at the AT&T facility in San Francisco,” the EFF said. The foundation’s legal director, Cindy Cohn, said: “Government lawyers have been arguing that our case is too secret for the courts to consider, despite the mounting confirmation of widespread mass illegal surveillance of ordinary people. Now we have three former NSA officials confirming the basic facts.” They are William Binney, Thomas Drake and Kirk Wiebe. Binney and Wiebe were cleared in a federal investigation of leaks to the New York Times about the surveillance, and charges against Drake were dropped, EFF said. Their new statements were made in connection with a motion for partial summary judgment asking a U.S. district judge in San Francisco to reject state-secrets objections by the government and apply the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.