“Thomas Drake is exhibit A of someone who goes through all the appropriate channels,” said Jesselyn Raddack, a national security and human rights lawyer and the director of ExposeFacts’ whistleblower and source protection project, during the panel.

This week, America Tonight caught up with Drake to discuss the PEN report, the weight of the burden taken on by whistleblowers and how his life was rocked in the last few years. Answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.

On the findings of the PEN report: Probably the biggest takeaway for me is it’s one of the first reports that actually pulled this information all together in a cogent fashion. It gives a history. It shows the dynamics. It shows how things have evolved. It shows how far the administrations, particularly President Obama, have gone in pursuing those who would dare hold up a mirror to power. It talks about the lack of protections for sources. It highlights the risks to journalism, as sources, like myself, are considering engaging in criminal activity. It raises serious questions, extraordinarily disturbing questions, about the government.

The irony of it, in my own case, was that the media was largely my saving grace. The media began to put a spotlight on what was happening. What’s at stake here is free press, to conduct aggressive journalism when dealing with very sensitive topics. National security has an extraordinarily overwhelming influence right now, and it tends to get what it wants. There really is no limit in terms of how much security you want. You want a perfectly secure society? Then I have to give up all rights and all freedoms, but what does that look like? I can play that game, the what-if scenarios. What if? What if? What if? Is it really worth it?

We need a robust press, because that’s the foundation of our form of government and the foundation of any free and open society. But what we’re seeing is a very disturbing trend, as there’s a much more autocratic presence that’s exerting itself. It’s a control mechanism that’s born out of fear, and I think it speaks, very disturbingly, to the darker sides of the human condition.

On the burden of being a whistleblower who talks to the press: The burden is huge. My act was a singular choice I made. I spent several months pondering this, even before the stories came out. I knew I’d end up in a criminal investigation. Why? Because so few people knew about the secret mass surveillance regime, those who did know about it or had been associated with it, they’d be fingered as possible sources automatically. I had to weigh what’s in the public interest, because this was for history. So I made contact with a reporter, but in doing that, I put everything at risk, literally — my entire life, my family, ability to earn a living, current livelihood, my pension, my job. And ultimately, my own freedom and liberty was on the line. I knew that then.