A Good American

Remarkable documentary about ‘good American’ William ‘Bill’ Binney, a former high-ranking NSA analyst. Binney claims to have developed a programme that could have prevented the 9/11 attacks yet was discontinued by his employer in the spring of 2001. Binney is one of the first major whistleblowers in relation to wiretapping by the NSA.

‘I will never commit suicide. So if anything happens to me, you will know that I was not responsible for it.’ A blunt statement showing that Binney is apparently worried about his fate, although he still resides in the US, as opposed to Edward Snowden. At the start of the film, fellow whistleblower Jesselyn Radack – former advisor to the American Justice Department – refers to Binney’s statement to voice her concerns about the latter’s safety.

Binney claims that the intelligence programme ThinThread, which he designed for NSA, could have prevented the 9/11 attacks. A few weeks before the attacks, the NSA decided to replace ThinThread, that had only just been launched, with another, more lucrative programme.

Disappointed by his employer and shocked by the events, Binney resigned one month after the 9/11 attacks and started to speak out about the NSA’s obscure methods, which he claims are unconstitutional and infringe on the privacy of a large part of the world’s population. Exciting and entertaining documentary that reveals the dark side of the American security agencies.