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Comment by tptacek | Hacker News Reader

No? FISA isn't an adversarial court that hears espionage cases; it exists solely to handle applications for surveillance. Espionage and national security cases are handled by ordinary federal courts.

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What kind of court was Drake tried in?

I have no idea, but nobody is "tried" at FISC. FISC has no jurisdiction over any criminal case and is strictly ex-parte.

Drake who?

Whoever, it wasn’t FISC, because FISC doesn’t have jurisdiction to do any trials.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_A._Drake

So, he wasn't tried at all, he was convicted on a guilty plea, and the case was in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, not the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (which, as previously stated, doesn't handle criminal cases.)

> In April 2010, Drake was indicted by a Baltimore grand jury on the following charges: Willful Retention of National Defense Information 18 U.S.C. § 793(e) (5 counts) (793(e) is a modification of the Espionage Act of 1917 made under the McCarran Internal Security Act of 1950), Obstructing justice 18 U.S.C. § 1519 (1 count), Making a False Statement 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a) (4 counts)

> Federal Judge Richard D. Bennett was responsible for hearing handling the case, and initially set trial for June 2011

He then plead out

https://sgp.fas.org/news/2010/04/doj041510.html

Federal criminal court in Maryland

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