Trailblazer was a United States National Security Agency (NSA) program intended to analyze data carried on communications networks like the internet. It was able to track communication methods such as cell phones and e-mail.^[1][2] It ran over budget, failed to accomplish several goals, and was cancelled.

Several whistleblowers complained about waste, fraud, and abuse in the program, and Congress and the NSA and United States Department of Defense (DoD) inspector general's offices investigated it. It was shut down in 2006. The people who filed the Inspector General complaint were later raided by armed FBI agents. An NSA officer who helped with the report and also talked with a reporter about the project, Thomas Andrews Drake, was later charged under the Espionage Act of 1917. His defenders claimed this was retaliation.^[3][4] The charges against him were later dropped, and he agreed to plead guilty to having committed a misdemeanor under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, something that Jesselyn Radack of the Government Accountability Project (which helped represent him) called an "act of civil disobedience".^[5]

Background[link]

Trailblazer was chosen over a similar program named Thinthread, a less costly project which had been designed with built in privacy protections for US citizens.^[4][3] Trailblazer was later linked to the NSA electronic surveillance program and the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy.^[3]

In 2002 a consortium led by Science Applications International Corporation was chosen by the NSA to produce a technology demonstration platform in a contract worth $280 million. Project participants included Boeing, Computer Sciences Corporation, and Booz Allen Hamilton. The project was overseen by NSA Deputy Director William B. Black, Jr., an NSA worker who had gone to SAIC, and then been re-hired back to NSA by NSA director Michael Hayden in 2000.^[6][7][8] SAIC had also hired a former NSA director to its management; Bobby Inman.^[9] SAIC also participated in the concept definition phase of Trailblazer.^[10][11]

File:Redacted-dod-oig-audit-requirements-for-the.pdf

The NSA Inspector General issued a report on Trailblazer that "discussed improperly based contract cost increases, non-conformance in the management of the Statement of Work, and excessive labor rates for contractor personnel." ^[13]

In 2004 the DoD inspector general report criticized the program (please see the Whistleblowing section below). It said that the "NSA 'disregarded solutions to urgent national security needs'" and "that TRAILBLAZER was poorly executed and overly expensive...." Several contractors for the project were worried about cooperating with DoD's audit for fear of "management reprisal."^[5] The Director of NSA "nonconcurred" with several statements in the IG audit, and the report contains a discussion of those disagreements.^[14]

In 2005, NSA director Michael Hayden told a Senate hearing that the Trailblazer program was several hundred million dollars over budget and years behind schedule.^[15] In 2006 the program was shut down.^[3] Several anonymous NSA sources told Hosenball of Newsweek later on that the project was a "wasteful failure".^[16]

The new project, to replace Trailblazer, is called Turbulence.^[3]

Whistleblowing[link]

According to a 2011 New Yorker article, in the early days of the project several NSA employees met with Diane S Roark, an NSA budget expert on the House Intelligence Committee. They aired their grievances about Trailblazer. In response, NSA director Michael Hayden sent out a memo saying that “individuals, in a session with our congressional overseers, took a position in direct opposition to one that we had corporately decided to follow.... Actions contrary to our decisions will have a serious adverse effect on our efforts to transform N.S.A., and I cannot tolerate them."^[3]

In September 2002, several people filed a complaint with the Department of Defense Inspector General's (IG) office regarding problems with Trailblazer. Four of these were Roark (aforementioned), and ex-NSA workers Bill Binney, Wiebe, and Loomis, who had quit the agency over concerns about its allegedly illegal domestic spying.^[3][17][18] A major source for the report was NSA senior officer Thomas Andrews Drake. Drake had been complaining to his superiors for some time about problems at the agency, and about the superiority of ThinThread over Trailblazer, for example at protecting privacy.^[18] Drake gave info to DoD during its investigation of the matter.^[18] Roark also went to her boss at the House committee, Porter Goss, about problems, but was rebuffed.^[19] She also attempted to contact William Renquist, a Supreme Court justice.^[18]

Drake's own boss, Maureen Baginski, the third-highest officer at NSA, quit partly over concerns about the legality of its behavior.^[3]

In 2003, the NSA IG (not the DoD IG)^[18] had declared Trailblazer an expensive failure.^[20] It had cost more than $1 billion.^[8][21][22]

In 2005, the DoD Inspector General produced a report on the result of its investigation of the complaint of Roark and the others in 2002. This report was not released to the public, but it has been described as very negative.^[17] Mayer writes that it hastened the closure of Trailblazer, which was at the time in trouble from congress for being over budget.^[3]

In November 2005, Drake contacted Siobhan Gorman, a reporter of the Baltimore Sun.^[23][16][24] Gorman wrote several articles about problems at the NSA, including articles on Trailblazer. This series got her an award from the Society of Professional Journalists.^[16]

In 2005, President George W. Bush ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to find whoever had disclosed information about the NSA electronic surveillance program and its disclosure in the New York Times. Eventually this investigation led to the people who had filed the 2002 DoD Inspector General request, even though they had nothing to do with the New York Times disclosure. In 2007, the houses of Roark, Binney, and Wiebe were raided by armed FBI agents. According to Mayer, Binney claims the FBI pointed guns at the heads of himself and his wife. Wiebe said it reminded him of the Soviet Union.^[3][17] None of these people were ever charged with any crime. Drake was raided in November 2007 and his computers and documents were confiscated.

In 2010 Drake was indicted by the US Department of Justice on charges of obstructing justice, providing false information, and violating the Espionage Act,^[16][25][26] part of President Barack Obama's crackdown on whistleblowers and "leakers".^{[23][16][27][17]} The government tried to get Roark to testify to a conspiracy, and made similar requests to Drake, offering him a plea bargain. They both refused.^[3]

In June 2011, the ten original charges against Drake were dropped, instead he pled guilty to a misdemeanor.^[5]

See also[link]

Gorman's Baltimore Sun series[link]

• Little-known contractor has close ties with staff of NSA January 29, 2006
• System Error, January 29, 2006
• GAO head stymied in quest to audit anti-terror efforts, February 04, 2006
• Computer ills hinder NSA, February 26, 2006
• Freshly briefed lawmakers to question Hayden today, May 18, 2006, with Gwyneth K. Shaw
• Second-ranking NSA official forced out of job by director May 31, 2006

Notes[link]

James Duke Mason
Mason at the Arpa International Film Festival, September 2010
Born	(1992-04-27) April 27, 1992 (age 20) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, LGBT advocate
Years active	2009–present

James Duke Mason (born April 27, 1992) is an American actor. He is the son of singer Belinda Carlisle and film producer Morgan Mason, and the grandson of the late British actor James Mason. In April 2010, The Advocate listed Mason as one of the most influential young LGBT Americans in their "Forty Under 40" issue,^[1] and in March 2011 he was voted into AfterElton.com's list of the top 50 gay/bisexual male celebrities.^[2] He also, in May 2011, was included on AfterElton.com's Hot 100 list.^[3]

Mason was named in OUT magazine's "Out 100" issue as one of the 100 most influential LGBT people in the world in 2011.^[4]

Personal life[link]

Born in Los Angeles, California, Mason moved to Europe with his parents as a toddler.^{[citation needed]} He nevertheless maintained a strong affinity with the United States, and was appointed to serve as a page in the U.S. House of Representatives during the summer of 2008.^[5] He also worked as a volunteer for Hillary Clinton during the 2008 Democratic primaries. After graduating from Mougins School, an international school in the south of France in July 2010, Mason moved back to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. He also spent a year studying at California Lutheran University pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science, which he plans to complete in the future.

In an Attitude Magazine interview,^[6] Mason stated that he is openly gay and that he came out to his family and friends at the age of 14 in 2006.^[5] He participated in a roundtable discussion of LGBT youth on Dr. Phil,^[7] has written articles on LGBT issues for websites such as The Huffington Post, and did a YouTube video to back the It Gets Better campaign. He also did a YouTube video in October 2010 opposing Proposition 19, which proposed to legalize marijuana in California. In April 2011 he founded the Trailblazer Campaign, a YouTube project designed to encourage LGBT entertainers to come out of the closet.^[8] In December 2011 it was announced that Mason was appointed to the Board of Directors of Outfest, making him the youngest member in the organization's 30-year history. He began his term in January 2012.

Career[link]

Mason made his acting debut in What Happens Next (formerly You Can't Have It All), which was screened as part of the "festival favorites" on the closing night of the QFest Film Festival, featured as the centerpiece film at the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, and was also shown at the Hollywood Film Festival. The film co-stars Wendie Malick, Jon Lindstrom, Chris Murrah and Natalia Cigliuti.

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• James Duke Mason at the Internet Movie Database
• James Duke Mason's channel at YouTube (Official)
• James Duke Mason on Twitter