The National Security Agency, or NSA, was first established in 1952, and Edward Snowden recently brought to light evidence showing that the super-secret spy agency has been listening in to the conversations of ordinary Americans by the millions.

The NSA has had a history of running into public controversy over their surveillance programs. Back in 1972, an 11-member Senate committee uncovered evidence that the agency had been spying on ordinary Americans without warrants. Their targets back then, like the IRS scandal of today, included political opponents and dissidents, as well as anti-war protestors.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 set up a special court through which intelligence agencies could obtain warrants which could not be issued through a traditional court. Starting in the early 1980’s, and especially in the weeks and months following 9/11, restrictions were lifted on how the government could intercept communications without a warrant.

The plight of governmental whistle-blower Edward Snowden has brought the debate about the legitimate powers of such spy agencies to the forefront of public discussion. Our guest today, Richard Grove, first made a name for himself as a corporate whistle-blower a decade ago.

Richard made his first million dollars before the age of 30, servicing the needs of some of the largest financial institutions in New York City, also with national security interests.
He soon discovered a questionable underside of the corporate world, as he worked in World Trade Center One. Surviving the attacks on the morning of September 11, 2001, he continued to work in the financial services industry.

In 2003, Grove uncovered what he saw as evidence of the coming financial crisis which would later occur in 2007. He decided to become a corporate whistleblower under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. This document requires top management of large financial institutions to individually certify the accuracy of financial statements made by the organizations.

As someone who has first-hand experience as a whistle-blower, Richard Grove has a unique insight into what it is like from the inside of revealing insider information. He has recently written a new movie, called State of Mind: The Psychology of Control.

In it, Grove makes the case that governments around the world are not controlled by the officials in office, but by a association of power brokers behind the scenes of world events.