Trump’s Raid on John Bolton’s Home Is Different From What I Experienced—It’s Revenge
The raids on my home and Bolton’s marks a chilling evolution from George W. Bush to Trump 2.0.
FBI agents carry boxes as they arrive at the home of John Bolton, Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, during a court-authorized search on August 22, 2025, in Bethesda, Maryland.
(Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty Images)“The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding.”
—Justice Louis Brandeis
The predawn quiet of Bethesda, Maryland, was shattered on August 22, 2025, as armed FBI agents entered the home of former national security adviser John Bolton. Images of agents carrying out boxes under a federal warrant played across news feeds—as spectacle and warning in equal measure. For me, those moments replayed a darkness I knew intimately: the morning of November 28, 2007, when FBI agents stormed my own home in Maryland and office at Fort McNair in DC on the National Defense University campus, searching and seizing everything from books to family photos. The ritual was identical. Only the names—and the nature of the “offense”—were different.
Nearly two decades apart, these scenes bookend a chilling evolution in how our government targets officials and individuals who dare speak inconvenient truths: critics, dissenters, and whistleblowers alike. Where once national security law better protected the nation, it now shields the powerful—and silences those who call them to account.
We are now seeing the troubling evolution and transformation of how the US government pursues former officials with a vengeance who dare speak truth to power either as critics, dissenters or whistleblowers.
While Bolton and I occupy vastly different positions in the political universe, our parallel ordeals reveal a disturbing evolution in how successive administrations have weaponized national security law and rules to silence inconvenient voices, attempt to censor dissenters and prosecute whistleblowers committing ‘crimes’ against the state.
The similarities are indeed striking, but they mask a far more troubling transformation in the government’s approach to criminalizing national security information. What was witnessed with me under Bush and Obama was the resurrection of the World War I–era Espionage Act as a draconian cudgel wielded against whistleblowers and unauthorized leaks.
What we are now seeing with Bolton under Trump represents something even more sinister with the systematic deployment of classified national security investigations used as tools of political retribution against former officials who dare to criticize those in power.
When Truth-Telling Became Treason
I was no revolutionary—just a senior NSA official, a teacher, and an intelligence professional who had taken the oath to support and defend the Constitution for the fifth time during military and government service. My “crime” was exposing what I saw: billions in fraud, massive violations of the Fourth Amendment, and missed intelligence that could have stopped 9/11—failures shielded by secrecy, not fact. The NSA had rejected a cost-effective, privacy-preserving surveillance program called ThinThread for Trailblazer, a multibillion-dollar boondoggle, alongside a secret mass surveillance regime called Stellar Wind. All my proper reporting and disclosure channels failed. My appeals to superiors, the general counsel, the inspector generals, and Congress went ignored.
Out of options and faced with mounting retaliation, I turned to the press with proof—unclassified—about waste and constitutional violations. The government’s response was merciless: my home and office ransacked, every device seized. In 2010, the Obama administration indicted me under the Espionage Act, a law once intended for spies, not whistleblowers.
Their charges, built on classified sand, collapsed. I ended up pleading to a minor misdemeanor for exceeding authorized use of a computer in exchange for the government dropping all the original 10 felony counts in the indictment. I emerged battered but free with no prison time or fine. But the message was unmistakable: challenge the national security complex at your peril—the government will hammer those who do.
The Obama Escalation: Secrecy as Sword
My signature case was not an anomaly nor a singular tale. Under Obama, the government prosecuted more officials under the Espionage Act than all previous administrations combined—eight versus three. Historically administrative issues suddenly became federal crimes, carrying decades of prison time. This surge paralleled the post-9/11 growth of America’s surveillance state: Executive Order 12333, the Patriot Act, and the FISA Amendments across sprawling intelligence systems, embedding secrecy deeper than ever.
As surveillance swelled, so did secrecy—and the abuse of the classification system. It is estimated by some accounts that over 80 percent of classified documents could be safely released with no harm to national security, while the number of classified documents exploded from three million in 2000 to 95 million by 2012 alone and even far greater now. These statistics don’t just mark paperwork—they expose a deliberate shift: classification as a weapon to shield mismanagement, hide questionable executive actions and criminalize disclosure.
Whistleblowers became public enemies. Constructive secrecy—a climate where the cost of disclosure far outweighs any hope of reform—became the government’s most potent tool and weapon. The dangers of speaking up, even through official channels, multiplied.
This historical context makes the current Trump escalation even more alarming given there is now a vast, largely unaccountable intelligence complex operating in constitutionally gray areas. When officials like me attempted to sound alarms about waste, fraud, abuse, wrongdoing, mismanagement, and constitutional violations, we found ourselves criminalized for the very disclosures that should have prompted reform.
The chilling effect following my case was immediate and profound. Current and former officials (and contractors) understood that speaking truth to power (even through proper channels) carried existential risks and creates a climate where classification serves not only to protect legitimate national security interests, but also serves to shield official misconduct and violations of law and statute from scrutiny and any public exposure or accountability for their actions.
Bolton and the Trump Transformation: Retribution as Statecraft
The FBI raid on John Bolton’s home represents the next phase in this troubling evolution. Unlike myself, a career intelligence professional turned whistleblower seeking to expose governmental failures, wrongdoing and violations of the law, Bolton is a former senior official whose “crime” is criticizing his former boss and writing a memoir (approved for release after clearing prepublication review) that portrayed Trump in an unfavorable light.
The current investigation against Bolton reportedly centers on his 2020 book The Room Where It Happened, which underwent the standard prepublication review process. Bolton received assurances from NSC officials that his manuscript contained no classified information, but the White House later initiated a second review that delayed publication and a move Bolton’s lawyers characterized as politically motivated retaliation.
What makes the Bolton case particularly troubling is its transparently retaliatory nature. Trump repeatedly called for Bolton’s prosecution in public, describing him as a “sleazebag” and suggesting he should face jail time. And the timing of the raid coming after Bolton was particularly vocal in criticizing Trump’s approach to Ukraine and Russia reinforces the perception that national security investigations are now brazen instruments of presidential vengeance and personal retribution.
The Broader Implications: The Shades and Shadows of Secrecy as a Weapon
The progression from my ordeal to Bolton reveals how classification and national security at large are now weaponized to serve political ends rather than legitimate national security interests. The government now routinely classifies information to avoid embarrassment, protect failed programs, or shield constitutional violations from oversight. When officials attempt to expose these problems, they face the full weight of the national security apparatus.
This transformation poses profound threats to democratic governance and the constitutional rule of law. In a system where the executive branch can classify virtually any information and then prosecute anyone who reveals that information, regardless of its legitimate public interest disclosures, we approach a national security state secrecy regime ruling outside the law. Such systems are fundamentally incompatible with democratic accountability.
Moreover, the selective nature of these prosecutions targeting whistleblowers and critics while ignoring politically convenient ‘authorized’ leaks undermines the rule of law itself. When classification serves political rather than security purposes, and when prosecutions target dissent rather than genuine harm to national security, we face a crisis of governmental legitimacy.
The Devolution of Democracy at the End of Classification
This is not just about Bolton. Or me. It is about a United States where classified secrecy becomes the shield for official wrongdoing and the sword for punishing critics. The surge in overclassification, now well documented by congressional and independent investigations, is not a byproduct but a feature—a strategy to suppress embarrassment, avoid accountability, and control the narrative.
When dissent is criminalized and criticism is met with dawn raids, the chilling effect is immediate and lasting. Officials—current and former—see the price for truth-telling. Journalists grow wary of publishing public interest stories. And the American people lose the knowledge they need to hold power to account.
In authoritarian regimes, prosecution of critics and former officials is not just common—it’s routine, the method by which power is preserved. Our technical mechanisms differ, but the result grows more similar. As classification swallows more of the public record, as prosecutions for speech escalate, we are edging closer to an American system where the only real crime is embarrassing those in power.
Bolton, Trump, and the Retribution Regime
If the Obama era sharpened the knife, the Trump administration wields it openly and with performative theatrical flourish. The FBI’s raid on John Bolton’s home marks a new, more alarming phase: retribution by investigation.
Bolton’s “crime” was to criticize the President and publish a memoir—vetted and cleared through all proper prepublication reviews, only to face a retaliatory second review and public calls for prosecution by Trump himself. The timing this time under Trump 2.0 was no accident as it followed Bolton’s vocal criticism of Trump on Ukraine and Russia and the administration moved with unprecedented force, branding him a national security threat.
What also sets this latest abuse apart is the public spectacle. FBI Director Kash Patel declared on social media, “NO ONE is above the law,” while the Attorney General and Deputy Director and even the Vice President clearly coordinated online and media messaging in promoting the raid suggests a political operation disguised as law enforcement.
Historically, the DoJ and the FBI heads shunned public comment during investigations to safeguard integrity and impartiality. Now, their performance is part of the punishment—a new normal where law enforcement is weaponized for political theater, not justice.
The Dangerous Road Ahead
The evolution from my Espionage Act prosecution to John Bolton’s FBI raid represents more than escalating governmental overreach as it signals the emergence of an American system where former officials are criminalized for virtually ANY criticism or disclosure that embarrasses those in power. This creates incentives for officials to remain silent about governmental failures, constitutional violations, and policy disasters until long after the damage is done.
We stand at a crossroads. The American people can accept this transformation, allowing the government to continue weaponizing classification and information against its critics, or we can demand fundamental reforms that restore the balance between legitimate secrecy and democratic accountability.
Congress must reassert its oversight role, requiring clear justifications for classification decisions and imposing meaningful penalties for overclassification. The judiciary must apply heightened scrutiny to prosecutions that appear politically motivated.
Most importantly, the American people must recognize that their right to know depends on protecting those brave enough to reveal governmental failures, even when (and especially when) such revelations prove politically inconvenient.
The dawn raids on my home and John Bolton’s home bookend a dark chapter in American history where secrecy has been perverted from shield into sword. Unless we act decisively to restore the constitutional balance, we truly risk awakening to discover that our special form of a democracy in the form of a constitutional republic has been classified out of existence under the suffocating blanket of national security and raw abuse of executive power, one show of force and predawn raid at a time.
The chilling message sent by these investigations echoes far beyond their immediate targets as it reaches every current and former official who might dare to speak any truth about power’s failures or merely criticize power. In a democracy, that silence may prove as the deadliest national security threat of all.
We are witnessing a dangerous transformation from the Bush/Obama era’s use of the Espionage Act against whistleblowers like me, to the Trump era’s use and deployment of national security investigations against alleged speech-related disclosures of classified information as tools of political retribution against critics like Bolton.
The Bolton case represents the culmination of this evolution, where national security investigations have become instruments of presidential vengeance against former officials whose primary offense is public criticism. This progression threatens to create an American system where former officials are criminalized for any disclosure that embarrasses those in power—a dynamic that undermines both the rule of law and democratic accountability.
When people are not allowed to criticize the President of the United States without the FBI showing up on their doorstep, we are seeing another step in Trump’s march toward authoritarianism.
It is also clear that the DoJ has a new mission of not just intimidation theater but also ‘protecting’ the President from any and all inconvenient truths and going after the source with the full weaponized weight of the government. In this increasingly troubling and alarming climate even national security begins to look a lot more like autocratic regime security and any dissent is viewed as the highest crime against even the state leader.
The shield of the law has melted down and now turned into a political sword against all perceived enemies who demonstrate dissent and disloyalty.
The First Amendment Betrayed
The danger is not abstract. The founders, wary of arbitrary power, enshrined the First Amendment directly because a democracy cannot survive in darkness. The Supreme Court, in the Pentagon Papers, made clear that even in matters of national security, the presumption is against censorship or retaliation for truthful speech. Yet, our government has engineered a new post-publication punishment regime, where critique brings the full might of the state regardless of public interest.
A Constitutional Emergency
We stand at a precipice. Accepting this transformation means accepting an American system where silence is survival and exposure is mortal risk. When the FBI appears for mere criticism of a sitting president, when the Department of Justice plays protector for political power instead of public good, the shield has become the sword. This isn’t “national security”—it’s regime security, and any dissent deemed as a treasonous act against the state.
Unless Congress acts—mandating transparency in classification, imposing penalties for overclassification, guaranteeing independent review of prosecutions, and enshrining real whistleblower protections—the trend will only worsen. The courts must also apply the strictest scrutiny to politically tainted prosecutions. Most of all, the American people must demand their right to know and insist on protections for those who risk everything to reveal uncomfortable truths.
Leaving political differences aside, the foundational principal of the 1st Amendment and the right of free speech is increasingly non-negotiable in an increasingly emboldened Trump regime When mere criticism of a president triggers FBI raids, it sends a most chilling message to every American.
In the end this isn’t just about Bolton and is much more about the erosion of our right to dissent and question the authority and actions of the government up to and including the president, when the government’s enormous power can silence and snuff out anybody who dares to dissent or speak inconvenient truth.
The Warning in the Dawn
The raids on my home and on Bolton’s mark inflection points—the weaponization of secrecy as a political strategy, the radical extension of state power to silence critics and the corrosion of the very idea of transparency. The current system where former officials face existential risks for any criticism creates incentives for silence about governmental failures.
If we do not act to restore balance, to put in place robust independent oversight and real safeguards for dissent, we will awaken to find that our country as a constitutional republic—the living system of open dialogue, lawful dissent, and government accountability—has been classified and investigated out of existence.
In the end, this is not about politics, personalities, or partisanship. It is about the right of every American to know, to question, and to challenge government power—rights that define us as a free people. Silence, enforced by fear and secrecy, is the deadliest national security threat of all.