Originally facing felony espionage charges that could have put him in jail for life, but allowed yesterday to plead guilty to a minor offense, former spy agency official Thomas Drake stood outside the federal courthouse in Baltimore and tried to explain the larger message of an ordeal that apparently began with a leak to The Baltimore Sun.

“I now look forward to getting my life back, so I can live free again knowing that freedom is never free. It requires eternal vigilance,” Drake said, to a cluster of media and whistle-blower advocates carrying signs condemning Drake’s former employer, the National Security Agency.

Drake, 54, plead guilty to the unauthorized use of a government computer, a misdemeanor, while the government, as part of a plea deal, will drop 10 felony counts, including the unauthorized possession of classified documents, that could have sent him to prison for 35 years.

Here’s the Associated Press story on the denouement of the case (by former Baltimore Sun reporter Doug Birch), here’s the Baltimore Sun’s piece. Birch calls the collapse of the case against Drake “a setback for the Obama administration’s effort to crack down on leakers.”

Below is a video showing a shaken Drake, addressing the media outside the courthouse. It’s shot by Baltimore video journalist Bill Hughes.