NSA Whistleblower Claims To Have Additional "Explosive" Revelations

An ex-NSA employee wants to testify to Congress on the extra-legal warrantless eavesdropping program, according to GovExec.com.

For more than 18 years, Russ Tice worked on some of the most secretive, covert intelligence programs operated by the U.S. government.

Now the 43-year-old former intelligence officer says he wants to "spill [his] guts" to Congress about "probable unlawful and unconstitutional acts" he believes occurred when he worked for the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Tice means business:

Tice sent a letter Dec. 16 to the chairmen of the Senate and House intelligence committees saying he wants to report suspected illegal activity. "These acts involve the director of the National Security Agency, the deputy chiefs of staff for air and space operations and the U.S. secretary of defense," he said.

You have to admire his use of metaphor:

Tice said he did not work on the program referenced in the Times article, but that his allegations are equally explosive.

"That was Hiroshima and this is Nagasaki," he said. "I want to talk about Nagasaki, which nobody's heard about yet."

Tice clearly is no Daniel Ellsberg, though:

He declined to discuss any details of his allegations, saying that doing so would disclose classified information and put him at risk of going to jail. He said he wants to meet in a classified setting with lawmakers or congressional staff.

"If it's done, it's all going to be done in closed session," Tice said. "It's all going to be classified. I'm doing everything I can to make sure you never know what these programs are."

His insistence on playing it by the book may result in his allegations going nowhere:

Complicating matters further, NSA sent Tice a letter Jan. 9 telling him that he has to notify the Defense Department inspectors general or NSA of his complaint, and of the information he intends to share with Congress. The letter added that Tice has to receive direction on how to proceed from the secretary of defense or NSA director - two of the people he alleges were involved in illegal or unconstitutional activity.

Hopefully, Congress arranges for this man to tell his story in whatever forum that will do the most good.

Problem. Congress almost never does the right thing. Especially when dealing with politically "explosive" matters.