THE DISSENTER
The US Government's Jailing Of A Drone Whistleblower
BY KEVIN GOSZTOLA - 16 JUN 2021 - VIEW ONLINE →
Photo used with permission from Bob, Daniel Hale's roommate
When the United States government had drone whistleblower Daniel Hale
arrested and the judge revoked his bail, they deprived him of the ability to
tie up loose ends and prepare for incarceration before his sentencing in
July.
It meant Hale could not say goodbye to friends or family with one final meal
before going off to federal prison. It meant he could not appropriately
coordinate with his roommates to store his belongings. It meant he could not
arrange a proper home for his cat, Leila.
But what happened to Hale is part of a stark trend in the government’s war
on national security whistleblowers that has intensified over the past
decade, especially against lower-level employees or contractors.
Hale pled guilty on March 31 to one charge of violating the Espionage Act,
when he provided documents to Intercept co-founder Jeremy Scahill and
anonymously wrote a chapter in Scahill’s book, The Assassination Complex:
Inside the Government’s Secret Drone Warfare Program. He was taken into
custody and sent to the William G. Truesdale Detention Center in Alexandria,
Virginia, on April 28.
A therapist from pretrial and probation services, who was assigned to Hale,
violated patient confidentiality and shared details about what he allegedly
said during a session.
“Daniel was called into the probation office for what he thought was a
routine check-in,” recalled Jesselyn Radack, the head of the Whistleblower
and Source Protection Program (WHISPeR) at ExposeFacts who has publicly
represented Hale. “Instead, he was arrested on a pretrial services warrant
because they were worried about his mental health.”
“It’s no secret that Daniel was struggling with anxiety, depression, and
post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his involvement in the drone
program,” Radack added. “Daniel felt that the therapist sold him out as
being at risk of self-harm.”
The therapist reportedly backed away from the interpretation of Hale’s
confession during therapy, which helped the government secure an arrest
warrant. They are no longer seeing Hale. However, Hale remains in detention.
The Therapist's Betrayal
Thomas Drake is an NSA whistleblower who was prosecuted under the Espionage
Act during President Barack Obama’s administration and ultimately pled
guilty to a separate misdemeanor. He called what the therapist did a
“betrayal.”
“I know what the government tried with me, especially if you’re saying
anything of any kind,” Drake shared. (According to Drake, the government
tried to “seed rumors” about depression and his potential for self-harm to
aid their case.)
Drake declared, “You can imagine, if you’re the government, wanting to
know what is being shared in confidence with a therapist.”
Imagine that you’re honest enough to admit you’re suffering, honest enough
to admit you have PTSD, and honest enough to admit you thought certain
things that were not positive thoughts, Drake added. “And then you get
turned in.”
Drake maintained Hale was not anywhere near self-harm. “I can tell you that
right now. I am still in communication with him because I’m on a list of
people he can call.”
Drone whistleblower Lisa Ling reacted similarly. “Being betrayed by a
mental health practitioner and the carceral system not only puts Daniel’s
future health at risk, but it happened at a time when there are 17 veteran
suicides a day.”
“Daniel is nowhere near harming himself or anyone else, and that makes what
happened completely unconscionable,” Ling added.
Hale’s roommate, Bob, said detention made it “really difficult to create a
plan to support someone who is going to be incarcerated for a long time. And
that’s what the government has done is made it more difficult for this
individual to maintain his connections to the outside.”
'A Cheap Shot' By The U.S. Government
On April 29, Hale was brought before a magistrate judge. Radack said, “The
public defenders, Daniel, and I all figured he’d be confined for a few days
until he could get in front of Judge Liam O’Grady,” who is presiding over
his case in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Virginia.
O’Grady overlooked concerns related to what could happen to Hale in
detention as a result of his mental health, despite past incidents of
self-harm and suicide attempts at the jail. He was put in isolation to
satisfy COVID protocol, but Radack indicated Hale was vaccinated. He is now
in general population.
CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou, who was prosecuted under the Espionage Act
while Obama was president, pled guilty to violating the Intelligence
Identities Protection Act. It was part of an agreement to only serve 30
months at a federal prison in Loretto, Pennsylvania.
“I had a date to which I had to report to Loretto, and I knew that I had
until that date to get all my business taken care of,” Kiriakou said. “He
never had that luxury and it’s not fair.”
Kiriakou continued, “The opportunity to get my finances in order, say
goodbye to my family, my friends, my children especially meant everything to
me. Daniel being snatched off the streets was a cheap shot because he’s not
able to come to closure on a lot of these issues. He can’t say goodbye to
his friends and family. He can’t arrange for the care of his cat.”
Both Drake and Kiriakou have the experience of pleading guilty to offenses
in order to end the indefinite stress of a leak prosecution. Along with
Radack, they advised Hale on the pros and cons of pleading guilty.
Hale was charged with five offenses. The public defender representing Hale
argued during the hearing, where he pled guilty, that the charges are
duplicative. But the prosecutors refuse to dismiss the remaining charges
until after his sentencing on July 27.
“The prosecutors have been playing hardball with him,” Kiriakou contended.
“He’s got terrific attorneys. And Daniel and the attorneys made this
calculated decision that the one count that he decided to plead guilty
essentially covers everything he did.”
'A Manipulation Of Due Process'
To Drake, the Justice Department prosecutors are engaged in a “manipulation
of due process,” which reminds him of what happened at his sentencing in
2011. Prosecutors maintained the punishment of probation was “insufficient
to fit the crime.”
His case was before Judge Richard Bennett in the U.S. District Court of the
District of Maryland, not the Eastern District. Bennett strongly objected to
how the prosecutors abused Drake and even compared their acts to British
tyranny in the days before the Revolutionary War.
What the prosecutors are doing to Hale pushes the boundaries of what is
permissible to the next level. They are doing a “bait and switch,” Drake
contended. “If we don’t like what the judge’s sentencing is, then we’ll
proceed to trial.”
Prosecutors theoretically could use Hale’s guilty plea to one Espionage Act
offense to help them convince a judge or jury that he committed the other
four offenses. After all, the guilty plea lays out the timeline of
disclosures to a reporter.
Before detention, Hale was living with roommates near Washington, D.C. He
moved in with them in February 2020, right before the U.S. was shut down by
the COVID-19 pandemic, and his trial was postponed from March 2020
indefinitely.
The pandemic only compounded Hale’s anxiety and stress, Radack shared.
Hale was hit by a car in October while riding a motorcycle and broke his
leg. It was no longer possible to work jobs at restaurants. He stayed home,
recovered, and then turned to cooking and helping with chores for his
roommates.
That same month, 20-year-old Karon Hylton was killed in D.C. when a car
struck his moped while police were chasing him. The young Black man’s death
sparked protests and officers involved were temporarily placed on leave.
According to Bob, he was on a street corner with Hale watching the pursuit
unfold. Hale was still in a hospital gown with a broken leg. “We both saw
him die in the street.”
Both Hale and Bob went to some protests. Hale connected with an attorney for
the Hylton family, and they provided a list of witnesses to the assistant U.
S. attorney. Prosecutors asked them to testify before a grand jury, which
they did.
“I was very reluctant at first, and it was Daniel, who actually convinced
me to give testimony,” Bob recalled. This is an example of the compassion
Hale has for other people, he added.
Pleading guilty is “extraordinarily challenging on a personal level,”
Drake asserted. “Is it in my best interest? I’m actually going to admit to
something.”
For Hale, it conflicts with the belief that what was done was right because
it involved exposing war crimes that occurred as a result of the U.S.
military’s drone program.
“He ultimately made a very, very difficult choice under less than ideal
circumstances to plead out to one count and then admit that he was the
anonymous source,” Drake concluded.
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