Drone Whistleblower Charged With Violating Espionage Act Pleads Guilty
Daniel Hale, who revealed information on the targeted assassination program
while President Barack Obama was in office, will be sentenced in July
Kevin Gosztola
Mar 31
Screen shot of Daniel Hale from trailer for "National Bird" documentary
directed by Sonia Kennebeck
Daniel Hale, who blew the whistle on the United States government's targeted
assassination program that includes drones, pled guilty to transmitting and
retaining "national defense information" in violation of the Espionage Act.
The guilty plea by Hale makes him the first whistleblower to be convicted
under the Espionage Act during President Joe Biden's administration.
A change of plea hearing was held on March 31 in the Eastern District of
Virginia, around a week before Hale was scheduled to go to trial.
Judge Liam O'Grady permitted Hale to remain under supervision by a probation
officer until sentencing on July 13.
Though Hale pled guilty, prosecutors from the Justice Department opposed
canceling the trial altogether and refused to dismiss the four remaining
charges. Hale's attorney questioned why this would be allowed.
O'Grady seemed to recognize the four remaining charges criminalize much of
the conduct already covered in Hale's plea. Often this is referred to as
charge stacking. Yet the judge permitted the government's extraordinary and
unusual request, leaving open the possibility of a trial if prosecutors are
unhappy with sentencing.
Under President Barack Obama, CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou was targeted
in the Eastern District of Virginia with an Espionage Act prosecution. He
wound up pleading guilty to violating the Intelligence Identities Protection
Act in order to ensure he only went to prison for 30 months.
"I'm disappointed that Daniel Hale's case was continued in the Biden Justice
Department," Kiriakou shared after learning Hale changed his plea. "I had
hopes that Biden's Justice Department appointee would recognize the public
service that Daniel Hale provided when he revealed illegality and abuse in
the drone program."
Since Hale is not permitted to offer a public interest defense, Kiriakou
added,"That's an injustice."
"So I hope Judge O'Grady recognizes the good in what Daniel Hale has done
and gives him the lightest possible sentence."
Hale was part of the Joint Special Operations Task Force in 2012 and
identified "targets" for kill and capture. From December 2013 to August
2014, he was a contractor at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
The U.S. government targeted Hale for prosecution after he disclosed
documents in 2014 to Intercept founding editor Jeremy Scahill for his "Dirty
Wars" project, which included a book and a film. The information he revealed
also helped the Intercept publish the "Drone Papers."
Hale appeared in the 2016 documentary "National Bird." He wore a pin
supporting U.S. Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning and followed CIA
whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling's prosecution. The FBI raided his home on
August 8, 2014, while the film was in production.
He was charged in March 2019 with violating the Espionage Act and other
related offenses, and in May, he was arrested.
It is unclear why the Justice Department took several years to charge Hale.
At the change of plea hearing, O'Grady did not believe Hale posed a flight
risk, since he was present at the proceedings. But he was particularly
concerned with Hale's mental health and urged him to notify his probation
officer if he felt like hurting himself.
Hale, who apparently survived a motorcycle accident recently, told the court
he was living with supportive people, who for some time allowed him to share
space and without paying rent. He is doing chores and cooking meals for his
roommates while quarantining during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A list of documents in the superseding indictment against him points to what
Hale allegedly exposed.
Prior to the "Drone Papers," a report, "Watch Commander: Barack Obama's
Secret Terrorist System, by the Numbers" was published by Scahill and Ryan
Devereaux. It exposed how "nearly half of the people on the U.S.
government's widely shared database of terrorist suspects are not connected
to any known terrorist group."
"More than 40 percent are described by the government as having 'no
recognized terrorist group affiliation,'" the journalists reported.
The report brought critical attention to an out-of-control watchlisting
system.
In October 2015, "The Drone Papers" were published and revealed criteria for
how the White House approved individuals for targeted assassinations and
revealed "small footprint counterterrorism operations" that were launched in
Somalia and Yemen.
TF 48-4, a special operations task force, was deployed to escalate wars in
East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. They were commanded from a center at
Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti. They utilized a maritime drone platform and were
supposed to hunt down members of al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)
and al Shabaab.
New details about British citizen Bilal el-Berjawi, "who was stripped of his
citizenship before being killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2012," were also
made public.
As Kiriakou recalled, he felt an "odd sense of relief" after he pled guilty
because the worst part-the unknown-was over.
"The worst part is laying in bed at night and thinking about spending the
rest of your life in prison while knowing that you did the right thing,"
Kiriakou said. "And so as odd as it might sound, changing a plea to guilty
and finally knowing what your sentence is going to be can be oddly
liberating."
Yet Kiriakou knew he would receive 30 months when he pled guilty. Hale does
not know how long he will be sentenced to prison, and he will face the
additional fear and anxiety of knowing prosecutors may demand a trial for
the remaining counts if the court does not approve a harsh enough sentence.
Hale blew the whistle on the powers that the Obama administration arrogated
to itself to act as judge, jury, and executioner and transform the world
into a battlefield without regard for human rights or international law. He
has suffered through a cruel prosecution that was destined to end in a plea
agreement because there is no whistleblower defense under the Espionage Act.
Unfortunately, this sends a clear signal that the war on whistleblowers
escalated under Obama and continued by Trump remains in full effect.
Hale is likely to receive a four or five-year prison sentence in July that
will come with the added risk of potential exposure to COVID-19 if the
Bureau of Prisons has not distributed enough vaccines to prisoners.
