A Good American

A Good American explores the possibility that code-breakers at the United States National Security Agency missed an opportunity to prevent the terrorist attacks of September 11.

The documentary centres on NSA technical director and whistleblower William Binney, who led a small team of expert code-breakers and surveillance specialists responsible for developing ThinThread, an advanced intelligence-gathering system. Rather than adopting this innovation, the NSA chose to pursue an alternative programme known as Trailblazer, which proved far more expensive, less effective, and lacking in privacy protections for American citizens. ThinThread was cancelled just three weeks before the September 11 attacks, and later testing suggested it could have identified the terrorists responsible prior to the attack.

By examining both surveillance programmes, A Good American exposes extensive government waste and outlines the investigations that followed Trailblazer’s failure. Despite costing billions of dollars, the programme ultimately failed to meet the United States’ critical national security needs.