One year ago this July, drone whistleblower Daniel Hale stood in front of Judge Liam O’Grady at his sentencing and explained himself. After a lengthy investigation and prosecution, it was finally the day when Hale would find out if he would spend years in prison for doing something he felt morally obligated to do: Tell the truth about the United States’ drone program.
He witnessed attacks on innocent civilians while working as a drone analyst for the U.S. Air Force. These experiences still haunt him to this day. These experiences led to him exposing the drone program. Judge O’Grady said Hale wasn’t being punished for telling the truth, but for stealing government documents that disclose that truth. Hale was then subject to a lengthy investigation. He was also prosecuted under the Espionage Act. a lawThis law was passed more than 100 years ago to address spies, but it has been used to prosecute antiwar dissidents as well as whistleblowers.
Daniel Hale, however, is not a spy. He is a person who cannot live with himself if the U.S. did not know what was being done to them. Thanks to him, we had proof that the drone program wasn’t as targeted as we were being told. The prosecution accused Hale of leaking the information that was included in “The Drone Papers” published by The Intercept. They also included Pentagon documents that confirmed that there was one drone operation in Afghanistan. 90 percentThe intended target of the killings was not the victims.
Hale said to Judge O’Grady:
I am here today to answer the crime of stealing papers. I expect to spend some time in prison for this crime. But, what I really came here to do is steal something that was never mine: human life. For this I was given a medal and well compensated. I couldn’t keep living in a world in which people pretended things weren’t happening that were.… Please, I beg you, forgive me, your honor, for taking papers as opposed to the lives of others. I couldn’t, God help me, have done anything else.
Hale was born on that day facing 10 years in prison. His family and friends sat in court waiting for the verdict. Judge O’Grady handed down a sentence of 45 months. Days later, Hale was movedHe traveled from Alexandria, Virginia, through Northern Neck Regional Jail in Warsaw (Virginia), where he would spend 33 years of his life. He is now serving the remainder of his sentence at Marion Federal Prison, Illinois, a year later.
A particular story was talked about often in the lead up to Hale’s sentencing. He witnessed the U.S. strike a car in Afghanistan that was being driven by a target while he was there. After the missile struck the vehicle’s back, Hale later saw a woman climb out from the passenger side of the car and take two items out. Then they drove off again. He later discovered that the woman had pulled her daughters from the car. They had been struck by the drone strike. They were between 5 and 3 years of age.
Had the strike gone as planned and the target been killed, his wife and children would be considered “collateral damage.” In this case, the “target” drove off while leaving two little girls behind. The ongoing 20-year-long “war on terror” made collateral damage feel so NormalHale is currently in prison for showing the rest of the world that these stories aren’t rare and infrequent, but are a regular part of U.S. Drone Warfare.
The U.S. government has been subject to years of investigation and prosecution. never able to prove Hale’s leaks ever harmed anyone: He is not truly in prison for espionage, but for embarrassing the U.S. government for its undemocratic and brutal practices.
On a few occasions since the sentencing, I have opened up my mailbox in Chicago to letters from the U.S. federal prison in Marion, Illinois, just a few hours south of me — letters from Daniel Hale. I also talk to his friends about what we’ve heard from him to try and piece together what his life may look like. Every conversation begins with: “How is Daniel doing and is he feeling okay? Who has visited him in visitation? Who has he written to?” In Marion, Hale is held in a Communications Management UnitThis was originally designed to address terrorist suspects in the wake 9/11.
Communication are closely monitored. It took Hale six years to get permission to write to my. Although no prison sentence is justified, the fact that Hale is in a cell that severely restricts his interaction with the outside world cannot be called cruel or unusual. Hale is a social person and plans to write about his experiences, as well as continue building relationships with like-minded individuals. It is near impossible for him to do so in a unit known as “Little Guantánamo.”
The Drone PapersThe information that Hale leaked was released during the Barack Obama presidency. But no one came for Hale. It wasn’t until the beginning of Donald Trump’s assault on whistleblowers that Hale started to face the consequences for his honesty, and what he felt was his duty to humanity. President Joe Biden has an opportunity for him to differentiate himself from Trump and grant Hale clemency. His revelations did not harm anyone, but instead helped scores U.S. Muslims to be removed from illegal terrorist watchlists. sue the U.S. government. Any president who believes in democracy should immediately release Hale if he is not a threat to society.
Hale is a powerful writer, and there is a lot to take from his letter to Judge O’Grady and his sentencing statement. He hates it when his story is the center of attention. He didn’t want to go through years and years of espionage, nor would he ever be able to live his life in prison. He did it because he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t tell the world the truth.
A drone attack in Pakistan in October 2012 left Zubair, a young boy, and his sister seriously injured. Zubair appeared before Congress. said, “I no longer love blue skies. I prefer gray skies. The drones do not fly when the skies are gray.” That has been the reality of the U.S. drone program. That grief has our country’s name written all over it, and it’s up to us to dramatically change that legacy and free the people who dared to tell us the truth at great personal risk.
