Possible Pentagon destruction of evidence in NSA leak case probed

It's a little hard to tell without a close reading of the article, but the alleged destruction of evidence was done by the Office of Special Counsel and unspecified inspectors general offices, not Thomas Drake or his lawyers. That is, the people in charge of whistleblowing cases did the evidence destruction, probably in response to bad PR.

This is infuriating on several levels. It seems like if Drake hadn't gotten sympathetic press coverage and public support, the DoJ would have tried to railroad him on espionage charges. Future leakers take note: be photogenic and sympathetic! Second, it's the damn prosecutors (I think). If you've got a case, make it in court, fair and square. It's the American Way. Anything else is just cowardly. Third, if any ordinary person (non-Lawyer or Judge or Law Enforcement Officer) had destroyed evidence, there'd be hell to pay. I can't see this as anything more than law enforcement taking care of their own.