Art Appraiser had linked here at Dagblog, to the New Yorker article on the Drake case a while back which I would highly recommend as background reading.  While not a total victory for Drake and freedom of information/whistleblowers, the plea is a blow to the Obama Administration's efforts to crack down on government leaks, no matter how minor.

BALTIMORE -- A former top official with the National Security Agency who was accused of passing classified documents to a reporter has agreed to a plea bargain with prosecutors in a deal that pleased civil-liberties advocates but is a setback for the Obama administration's effort to crack down on leakers.

Former NSA executive Thomas Drake, 54, of Maryland is expected to plead guilty Friday in federal court in Baltimore to the unauthorized use of a government computer, a misdemeanor, while the government will drop 10 felony counts, including the unauthorized possession of classified documents, that could have sent him to prison for 35 years.

The lesser charge still carries a maximum penalty of up to one year behind bars and a $100,000 fine, but the Government Accountability Project, a whistleblower advocacy group, said that under the arrangement Drake wouldn't spend any time behind bars or pay a fine.