{"id":59168,"date":"2021-04-05T08:12:33","date_gmt":"2021-04-05T12:12:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=59168"},"modified":"2021-04-05T08:13:17","modified_gmt":"2021-04-05T12:13:17","slug":"murder-inc-u-s-government-ran-an-unlawful-extrajudicial-global-assassination-program-proven-by-whistleblowers-leaked-docs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=59168","title":{"rendered":"MURDER, INC: U.S. Government Ran an Unlawful, Extrajudicial, Global Assassination Program Proven by Whistleblower’s Leaked Docs"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Drone Whistleblower Daniel Hale Pleads Guilty, Advocates Warn of ‘Profound Threat’ to Free Press<\/h1>\n

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“Using the Espionage Act in this way to prosecute journalists’ sources as spies chills newsgathering and discourages sources from coming forward with information in the public interest.”<\/h3>\n

by Brett Wilkins
\nCommonDreams.org<\/p>\n

Press freedom, peace, and human rights advocates are rallying behind Daniel Hale, the former intelligence analyst who blew the whistle on the US\u00a0government’s drone assassination program, and who\u00a0pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to violating the Espionage Act<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0Hale, who was set to go on trial next week, pleaded guilty to a single count of violating the 1917 law that has been used to target whistleblowers including\u00a0Julian Assange<\/a>,\u00a0John Kiriakou<\/a>,\u00a0Chelsea Manning<\/a>,\u00a0Edward Snowden<\/a>,\u00a0Jeffrey Sterling<\/a>,\u00a0Reality Winner<\/a>, and others.<\/p>\n

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Daniel Hale<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hale was\u00a0charged<\/a>\u00a0in 2019 during the Trump administration after he\u00a0leaked classified information on the US\u00a0government’s targeted assassination program<\/strong>\u00a0to a reporter, who according to court documents, matches the description of\u00a0The Intercept\u00a0<\/em>founding editor\u00a0Jeremy Scahill. He is the\u00a0first person to face sentencing for an Espionage Act offense during the admnistration of President Joe Biden<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

As vice president under President Barack Obama, Biden\u00a0contributed<\/a>\u00a0to the creation of whistleblower protections in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, while simultaneously serving in an administration that, while\u00a0promising<\/a>\u00a0“a new era of open government,”\u00a0relentlessly targeted individuals who revealed US\u00a0war crimes and other classified information<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Kiriakou\u2014a former CIA agent who under Obama was\u00a0sentenced<\/a>\u00a0to 30 months’ imprisonment for\u00a0exposing<\/a>\u00a0US\u00a0torture\u2014told<\/a>\u00a0Kevin Gosztola that he is\u00a0“dissappointed that Daniel Hale’s case was continued in the Biden Justice Department.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

“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,” said Kiriakou.<\/p>\n

Hale, who was an intelligence analyst for the US\u00a0Air Force before moving on to the National Security Agency and then the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency,\u00a0“knowingly took highly classified documents and disclosed them without authorization, thereby violating his solemn obligations to our country,”<\/em>\u00a0according to a\u00a0statement<\/a>\u00a0from Raj Parekh, the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.<\/p>\n

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US Air Force image<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to Gosztola, Hale’s whistleblowing led to the\u00a0revelation<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0The Intercept<\/em>\u00a0that\u00a0“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,”<\/strong>\u00a0details<\/a>\u00a0on how the Obama administration approved targeted assassinations, and\u00a0information<\/a>\u00a0about Bilal el-Berjawi, a Briton “who was stripped of his citizenship before being killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2012.”<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Post<\/em>\u00a0reports that Hale admitted in court to writing an anonymous chapter in Scahill’s 2016 book,\u00a0The Assassination Complex: Inside the Government’s Secret Drone Warfare Program<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>which divulged information taken from top-secret documents about drone strike protocols, civilian casualties, and Pentagon officials’ debate about the accuracy of intelligence.<\/p>\n

“These documents detailed a secret, unaccountable process for targeting and killing people around the world, including US\u00a0citizens, through drone strikes,”<\/strong>\u00a0Betsy Reed, editor-in-chief of\u00a0The Intercept<\/em>,\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0after Hale’s indictment. “They are of vital public importance, and activity related to their disclosure is protected by the First Amendment.”<\/p>\n

Hale had initially centered his defense on First Amendment grounds, and his numerous defenders condemned his prosecution as a violation of press freedom and freedom of speech. His lawyer, Jesselyn Radack, issued a\u00a0statement<\/a>\u00a0saying “the U.S. government’s policy of punishing people who provide journalists with information in the public interest is a profound threat to free speech, free press, and a healthy democracy.”<\/p>\n