Silenced Page #2

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it's clear,

have become

an endangered species,

to say it that way,

and you have

a government who's decided

that they need

to become extinct.

the last thing they want

is people spilling the beans

on what the government's doing

under the rubric of secrecy

and national security

behind the scenes.

to use the espionage act,

it is the harshest thing

you can charge someone with.

they were sending,

deliberately sending,

the strongest possible message.

they set the target.

they put the bull's-eye on me

and said, "we're gonna make

an example of him."

[ thunder rumbles ]

i was born in louisiana.

my father was an officer

in the u.s. air force.

but the bulk of my growing up

was actually in vermont.

and that's where

i went to high school,

that's where i became

a young adult.

-i was born and raised

in a small town

in western pennsylvania,

north of pittsburgh,

in amish country.

i always had a fascination

with international affairs.

i was an avid ham radio operator

when i was a kid, for example.

-i grew up

in columbia, maryland.

i grew up in a somewhat

dysfunctional family,

and therefore,

at a very young age,

the concept of justice

became very central to me.

-the attorney general had

the authority to authorize it.

-i remember sitting

in social studies class,

watching the watergate hearings.

-i authorized wire tapping

and other related activity.

-seeing these incredible

violations

of law and the fourth amendment,

high crimes and misdemeanors as

specified in the constitution --

no one was above the law,

not even the president

of the united state of america.

-i went to college

in new england, and law school.

i dreamed of working

at the justice department.

you go into court

and you have the imprimatur

of the united states behind you.

and you get to wear

the white hat,

and you get to always be

on the right side

of whatever you're arguing.

so, when i got the job

at the justice department

right out of law school,

for me, that was

my dream job.

-i was mostly interested

in the middle east

because when i was

in high school,

the iran hostage crisis

was ongoing.

and i thought, "i'm gonna go

to george washington university.

it's two blocks

from the white house."

-i made a choice

that i would join the air force

for a few years

as a cryptolinguist.

and a cryptologic linguist

is someone

who listens to communications

of other countries

in different languages.

and the country that i

specialized in was east germany.

-my advisor, it turned out,

was undercover as a professor.

he was actually a cia officer

acting as what was then called

a spotter.

and he asked me

if i was interested

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