How an ex-intel official’s prison sentence exposes the folly of the Espionage Act

The District Court of Alexandria, Virginia on Tuesday sentenced former Air Force intelligence analyst Daniel Hale to nearly four years in prison. He was charged under the Espionage Act for leaking secret documents on the Obama administration’s clandestine drone strike operations in 2014 and 2015. 

The documents, which were published in October, 2015 by The Intercept, exposed the horrific details of U.S. drone warfare in Somalia, Yemen, and Afghanistan, as well as a rulebook on how the U.S. government adds individuals to its terror watchlists and locates them. In March, Hale pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Espionage Act. 

It’s frustrating to see that the Biden administration is continuing to use the Espionage Act to crack down on whistleblowers, especially at a time when government accountability and responsible national security policies are urgently needed. For the past two decades, the so-called “War on Terror” has undermined the rule of law and provided cover for the executive branch to wage secret, unconstitutional wars with impunity. Charging those who expose this injustice as spies is not the answer — the administration must pursue meaningful accountability and an overhaul of  U.S. counterterrorism policies. 

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For Every Whistleblower They Make An Example Of, They Prevent A Thousand More

Whistleblower Daniel Hale has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison after pleading guilty to leaking secret government information about America’s psychopathic civilian-slaughtering drone assassination program.

The sentence was much harsher than Hale’s defense requested but not nearly as harsh as US prosecutors pushed for, arguing that longer prison sentences are necessary for deterring whistleblowing in the US intelligence cartel.

The Dissenter’s Kevin Gosztola reports:

Despite the fact that Hale pled guilty on March 31 to one of the five Espionage Act offenses he faced, prosecutors remained spiteful and unwilling to support anything less than a “significant sentence” to “deter” government employees or contractors from “using positions in the intelligence community for self-aggrandizement.”

In other words, if you tell the public the truth about your government’s crimes, you will be made an example of so nobody else tries to do that. And then for that brave and selfless act, you’ll be smeared as doing it for “self-aggrandizement”.

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Whistleblower Leaks Email Revealing Biden Admin Using US Military to Secretly Move Illegal Aliens Around the Country

Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Wednesday said a whistleblower leaked an email to him revealing the Biden Administration is using the US Military to secretly move illegal aliens around the country from Laughlin Air Force Base.

The US Military is supposed to defend this nation, but they are now secretly aiding and abetting illegal alien invaders.

The email, written by Lt. Col. Matthew Burrows and leaked to Tucker Carlson reads: “Over the next few days, weeks or months, you may see passenger aircraft on our ramp transporting undocumented non-citizens. Please review the attached public affairs guidance on the issue.”

Burrows then commanded military men in uniform to hide what was happening on the base from the very Americans they are sworn to serve: “Do not take photographs and refrain from posting anything on social media,” the email reads.

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The Weird, Creepy Media Blackout On Recent Assange Revelations

As of this writing, it has been three days since the Icelandic newspaper Stundin broke the story that a key witness in the US government’s case against Julian Assange had fabricated allegations against the WikiLeaks founder. And yet, somehow, Assange is still in prison.

Weirder still, not one major western media outlet outside of Iceland has reported on this massive and entirely legitimate news story. A search brings up coverage by Icelandic media, by Russian media, and by smaller western outlets like Democracy NowWorld Socialist WebsiteConsortium NewsZero Hedge and some others, but as of this writing this story has been completely ignored by all major outlets who are ostensibly responsible for informing the public in the western world.

It’s not that those outlets have been ignoring Assange altogether these last few days either. Reuters recently published an interview with Assange’s fiance Stella Moris. Evening Standard has a recent article out on Assange’s plans to marry Moris in Belmarsh, as does Deutsche Welle. It’s just this one story in particular that they’ve been blacking out completely.

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Dozens of Cops Blow Whistle on Quota System that Forced them to Arrest Blacks and Latinos

Dozens of current and former NYPD officers have come forward and backed a lawsuit against the NYPD that claims officers were forced to participate in an off-the-books quota system that prioritized the arrests of Blacks and Latinos. The officers coming forward have solidified the views of many who allege the entire system is racist.

The original lawsuit was filed by NYPD Lt. Edwin Raymond and 11 other officers back in 2015. Since then, more than two dozen other former and current officers have come forward, backing up the claims in the lawsuit which states officers were punished for not meeting their arrest quotas.

One cop, who is a plaintiff in the long-running lawsuit claimed a supervisor would ask him “Are you going to take someone’s freedom today?”

“If plaintiffs prevail in their suit, the CCRB would investigate arrests/summons made by officers under the supervision of the relevant commanders, as part of our new Charter mandate to investigate racial profiling and other forms of bias based policing,” the Civilian Complaint Review Board tweeted.

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Edward Snowden says Julian Assange ‘could be next’ after John McAfee dies by suicide in jail

Former NSA consultant and data privacy advocate Edward Snowden tweeted on Wednesday that Julian Assange “could be next,” after antivirus mogul John McAfee died by apparent suicide in a Barcelona prison cell following news that he was being extradited to the US on criminal tax evasion charges.

Spanish outlets broke the news of McAfee’s death by suicide on Wednesday.

“Europe should not extradite those accused of non-violent crimes to a court system so unfair — and prison system so cruel — that native-born defendants would rather die than become subject to it. Julian Assange could be next,” Snowden tweeted.

“Until the system is reformed, a moratorium should remain,” he added.

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Pentagon gets ‘woke’: Whistleblowers reveal segregation for ‘privilege walks,’ critical race theory

Sen. Tom Cotton has revealed some of the hundreds of whistleblower complaints from service members who object to critical race theory indoctrination in the military, including airmen being divided by race and sex into groups for “privilege walks.”

The service members also spoke out against receiving reading lists of critical race theory books as part of the Pentagon’s new anti-extremism and diversity training within the ranks.

“This is about a very specific kind of anti-American indoctrination that is seeping into some parts of our military,” Mr. Cotton said at a recent Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

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Facebook Whistleblowers Reveal Campaign To Censor Vaccine Hesitancy

Whistleblower organization Project Veritas has obtained internal documents from Facebook insiders detailing the company’s efforts to censor concerns over the COVID-19 vaccine.

Leaked company documents provided by two whistleblowers detail Facebook’s plan to combat “vaccine hesitancy” (VH) worldwide via “comment demotion”.

They’re trying to control this content before it even makes it onto your page before you even see it,” one insider told Project Veritas. “If I lose my job, it’s like, what do I do? But that’s less of a concern to me.”

The social media giant’s goal is to “reduce user exposure” to those with VH, while also reducing the ability to engage with said posts.

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