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Trump's Justice Department opened new chapter in US government's war on whistleblowers by indicting former member of Air Force who allegedly blew the whistle on the US targeted assassination program, which involves drones. Let's go through the indictment.
Hale was language analyst for Air Force. He worked at NSA. He was deployed to Afghanistan to identify and track "targets" for kill/capture operations. Later, he was employed by defense contractor Leidos and assigned to National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).pic.twitter.com/GpkdOduXXf
Hale was indicted in March 2019 with three counts of violating the Espionage Act: "obtaining national defense information"; "retention and transmission of national defense information"; and "causing the communication of national defense information."pic.twitter.com/6ePRPL0rDW
It is important to understand "national defense information" is terribly vague catch-all term that may encompass information not classified. In era of "war on terrorism," officials can claim so many more records are "national defense information" to criminalize disclosure.
In Hale's case, the Justice Department appears to only be charging him for alleged disclosure of documents that were marked "secret" and "top secret."
Hale attended a book event at a bookstore event and met with reporter on April 29, 2013. It doesn't name the bookstore or the reporter, but an event posting from Busboys And Poets shows it was at their bookstore in D.C. and Jeremy Scahill was there for "Dirty Wars" book signing.pic.twitter.com/rx9hlI1B2B
Awkwardly, the indictment states, "Hale sat next to the reporter at public event at the bookstore" on June 8. He was on stage with Scahill and participated in the event. He didn't attend and sit in audience with Scahill, which is how indictment sounds. https://vimeo.com/67999261 pic.twitter.com/xfMXfCLpjP
There is "Confidant" that appears in the indictment. It is not clear whether "Confidant" was pressured at any point to provide information on Hale or if all this information was obtained by seizing copies of texts and other communications.pic.twitter.com/J6odWvaslZ
Scahill was in Los Angeles for the Oscars. His film, "Dirty Wars," was nominated for Best Documentary Feature. Around this time, Hale allegedly printed documents. The indictment doesn't say how government knows they were transferred. Just that Intercept published them.pic.twitter.com/2PMMzfUrwh
Indictment has list of 11 classified documents Hale allegedly printed, dates when printed, dates when they were published by The Intercept, and their classification. With these, we're able to know what Hale allegedly exposed and why he's being prosecuted for truth-telling.pic.twitter.com/GHXFC9d8rv
Documents A-F were the basis for The Intercept's "Drone Papers": https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/ Collectively, documents Hale allegedly disclosed offered public long-overdue examination of how U.S. government developed and carried out assassination program under Obama and Bush.
Documents B and F were documents describing operations in Somalia and Yemen in February and May of 2013. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2460855-small-footprint-operations-february-2013.html …https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2460856-small-footprint-operations-may-2013.html …
Documents B and F contained details on a secretive unit, Task Force 48-4, that was targeting and assassinating alleged militants linked to al Qaida in Arabian Peninsula and al Shabaabhttps://theintercept.com/drone-papers/find-fix-finish/ …
Additionally, Documents B and F contained a slide that showed the "chain of command leading to the approval of a lethal strike." Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director for ACLU at time, stated, "Public has a right to know who's making these decisions."https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/the-kill-chain/ …
Here is an outline of each of the documents the government claims Daniel Hale disclosed when he blew the whistle on the U.S. assassination program and how drone strikes are carried out.pic.twitter.com/eUTZgptWAB
Document E is described as "information gathered by NSA on specific named targets." It is most likely this Geolocation Watchlist.https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2460858-geolocation-watchlist.html …
Document C is a "March 2013 PowerPoint on military operations" and that is most likely a collection of slides on "Operation Haymaker."https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2460857-operation-haymaker-afghanistan-documents.html …
Document C formed the basis for The Intercept's report, "Manhunting In The Hindu Kush: Civilian Casualties And Strategic Failures In America's Longest War"https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/manhunting-in-the-hindu-kush/ …
An intelligence community source with experience working on high-value targeting missions in Afghanistan (most likely Hale) told Intercept if "military-age male" is killed they are labeled "enemies killed in action," whether they were combatants or not.
Document J is described as "PowerPoint presentation classified secret." It was supposedly published in December 2015 and most likely is this cellphone surveillance cataloguehttps://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2648148-Cellphone-Surveillance-Catalogue.html …
Cellphone surveillance catalog was the basis for Intercept's report, "Stingrays: A Secret Catalogue Of Government Gear For Spying On Your Cellphone," which described Boeing "dirt boxes" that could be mounted on drones.https://theintercept.com/2015/12/17/a-secret-catalogue-of-government-gear-for-spying-on-your-cellphone/ …
Document G is described as "PowerPoint presentation outlining U.S. military technical capabilities classified top secret." This is most likely "Architecture Of U.S. Drone Operations."https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1944698-complex-architecture-of-the-u-s-drone-program.html …
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 revealed. Possibly Document K - "intelligence report on an al Qaida operative" - is referring to Berjawi.
One section of indictment highlights how Hale allegedly had a thumb drive with Tor software and Tails operating system installed.pic.twitter.com/I3mAwUCK0C
Justice Department notes Tor and Tails were "recommended by reporter's online news outlet in an article published on the reporter's online news outlet's website." All convoluted way of arguing The Intercept encouraged Hale to hide his tracks so he could leak.
This part of indictment highlighting Daniel Hale's alleged use of Tor and Tails is important to pay attention since WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was indicted for allegedly helping Chelsea Manning engage in source protection. One can argue criminalizes Scahill and Intercept.pic.twitter.com/KgCpcmHc7H
No allegation in indictment that Scahill "solicited" leaks from Daniel Hale. But we don't have copies messages exchanged over Jabber. Must be mindful prosecutors could twist messages as they did with Assange to criminalize journalist. Why more should protest Assange indictment
Hale is charged with violating 798(a)(3), which has not been typically charged in these leak cases but is amendment to Espionage Act from 1950. This part of code concerns disclosure of "communication intelligence activities of the United States or any foreign government."
It is possible Daniel Hale would be able to challenge the appropriateness of classification before jury—whether national security truly justified classification. This is from the Columbia Law Review in 1973:pic.twitter.com/xfN81mprgD
Daniel Hale was featured in @NationalBirdDoc. In film, we see Hale grappling with fact that home was raided by FBI on August 8, 2014. FBI raid isn't mentioned in narrative in indictment. One question is why did Justice Department wait nearly 5 years to charge Hale.
Focusing on why Hale allegedly provided these documents to Intercept, this is what he told Scahill for his introduction article to "The Drone Papers."pic.twitter.com/BCypky6lXr
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