William Binney

In this "Secure in Mind" podcast episode, we are joined by one of the most influential whistleblowers of the last 50 years – William Binney. It was a great conversation that I thoroughly enjoyed, and I am certain you will too. Throughout modern history, few people have had such far-reaching impact in alerting the general populace of the more shrouded and controversial goings-on of our custodians of law, order, civility, and society. Time is a fickle, wondrous illusion, and when the control of a particular narrative is stalwart, even the most significant events can and will oft slip into vaporous annals of forgotten bygones. Some events and people, however, remain a thorn in the proverbial backside of an institution – enough to tip the scales toward a more open, transparent conversation with the citizenry. Our first podcast of this side of the European summer is with William Binney, who stands among a handful of whistleblowers in the defence and intelligence arena who have managed to impact the external narrative as a result of their actions. Bill resigned as the Technical Leader of the United States National Security Agency (NSA) in 2001. During and after his time at the agency, he was a staunch critic of both the Bush and Obama administrations' stances on data collection. Bill brings in a unique and eye-opening perspective on what he argues is unconstitutional practice. The flaccid protections afforded by the internal whistleblowing function of the DoD prompted a reaction – FBI raids, indictments… the works. In fact, it was the punitive treatment of Bill and his fellow whistleblowers that prompted Edward Snowden to go public with his revelations rather than rely on the internal whistleblower function in place. This is a conversation with a man who served the mission of the United States for three decades only to be sent packing; he continues to be stomped on due to his refusal to capitulate to unconstitutional actions of the state. What is evident is that years of persecution, courts, and reputation trashing have not stopped Bill's combative spirit. There were some parts of his narrative, however, where I felt we were drifting away from previously verifiable and egregious examples of public-trust breaches, intelligence disinformation, and smoke screens to the murkier waters of conspiracy theory overload. I felt I was on unsure footing during our closing discussion regarding climate change and side with the overwhelming facts - and my thermostat - in that argument. However, it was a great conversation that I thoroughly enjoyed, and I am certain you will too.

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