J. Kirk Weibe was raised in rural Indiana. He became an analyst at NSA and later worked in both technical and management positions. Wiebe and the unit of 70 analysts that he managed received two prestigious NSA awards. He then linked up with Ed Loomis and Bill Binney in their determination to modernize and automate NSA. After 26 years of service, he retired along with them after NSA rejected their THINTHREAD approach in favor of the TRAILBLAZER program. Wiebe then organized a confidential hotline complaint asking the Inspector General of the Dept. of Defense to investigate TRAILBLAZER's waste of money and ethical problems. Loomis, Roark and Binney also signed it, and Tom Drake assisted the investigators. After a 2-1/2 year investigation The I.G. verified their complaints, but the findings are still kept classified. After the Times leak about warrantless wiretaps, the FBI immediately demanded that the I.G. turn over the confidential names of those who had requested the investigation. All 5 were raided in 2007. Six years later, they are still attempting to recover their property.