Daniel Hale Receives 45-Month Sentence for Releasing Drone Documents

Re:Daniel Hale Receives 45-Month Sentence for Releasing Dron... by anigbrowl on Friday July 30, 2021 @10:35PM (#28014713)

O'Grady responded, “You’re not facing prison for speaking out about the drone program injuring and killing innocent persons," and, "You could have been a whistleblower and garnered all this attention without leaking any of these documents, frankly.”

However, if Hale had spoken to the public about the content of the documents but never taken any of the information, he almost certainly would have still been the target of an Espionage Act prosecution.

Not sure if the writer is naive or obtuse; it's pretty obvious that the judge meant using institutional whistleblowing channels, which would have legally insulated Hale. Of course, it's also that much more likely that the matter would have gone unnoticed by the public and and eventually been buried in red tape.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Daniel Hale Receives 45-Month Sentence for Releasing Dron... by lambdasquirrel on Friday July 30, 2021 @10:52PM (#28014825)

It’s really hard to believe we would have heard anything if official channels were used.

It’s really hard not to hear the judge’s statement outside of that context.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Daniel Hale Receives 45-Month Sentence for Releasing Dron... by libertyhouse on Friday July 30, 2021 @11:34PM (#28015033)

It's likely that the sentence wouldn't have been as harsh had there been evidence that he tried official channels first.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Daniel Hale Receives 45-Month Sentence for Releasing Dron... by harry8 on Saturday July 31, 2021 @12:45AM (#28015369)

There is a mountain of evidence of official channels being tried by government whistleblowers with evidence of crimes committed where they were subject to the grossest retribution.

I frankly quite flatly don't believe the judge. The very fact that we know about so many of these crimes, which to my knowledge, none have been prosecuted shines the light of truth on this claim.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Daniel Hale Receives 45-Month Sentence for Releasing Dron... by DubiousPusher on Saturday July 31, 2021 @02:54AM (#28015970)

Judges have a very strong institution bias because they are by and large products of the insitutions. You climb high in legal circles by generally expressing a fairly high level of belief in cops, courts and the like.

And sometimes, to call something like official whistleblowing channels the nonsense that they are, you imoly something very damaging about the whole system. I think it's too much to chew. And it's much easier to profess belief.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Daniel Hale Receives 45-Month Sentence for Releasing Dron... by pope_meat on Friday July 30, 2021 @11:49PM (#28015113)

If he'd gone through the official channels first, he wouldn't have gotten the chance to do it another way when inevitably official channels did nothing.

They'll ruin your life either way, at least this way the info makes a splash.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Daniel Hale Receives 45-Month Sentence for Releasing Dron... by libertyhouse on Saturday July 31, 2021 @12:18AM (#28015255)

You mean he wasn't capable of gaming out the consequences of the Government reacting poorly to the use of official whistleblower mechanisms and wouldn't therefore be able to go to the press in the manner in which he did?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Daniel Hale Receives 45-Month Sentence for Releasing Dron... by pope_meat on Saturday July 31, 2021 @12:27AM (#28015301)

He would have lost access to all the files, and been shown the door. Without proof no one cares what you claim.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Daniel Hale Receives 45-Month Sentence for Releasing Dron... by noptd on Saturday July 31, 2021 @07:10PM (#28022236)

I disagree. He could have taken copies of the files as insurance before whistleblowing, allowing him to then go public if nothing resulted from the official inquiry.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Daniel Hale Receives 45-Month Sentence for Releasing Dron... by boomboomsubban on Sunday August 01, 2021 @03:23PM (#28029062)

Taking the files is already committing a crime, so the moment he tried the proper channels they could have arrested him preventing his insurance.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Daniel Hale Receives 45-Month Sentence for Releasing Dron... by libertyhouse on Saturday July 31, 2021 @01:49AM (#28015619)

You believe that the Government could hide/destroy all archival Target Development packages, SIGINT Reporting, Full Motion Video, Tactical Reports, Collateral Damage Estimates, Judge Advocate and other leadership decisional communications, Battle Damage Assessments, Political Communications, and other material about any particular strike in question to prevent the investigation of a whistleblowers claims?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Daniel Hale Receives 45-Month Sentence for Releasing Dron... by pope_meat on Monday August 02, 2021 @06:37PM (#28043572)

https://www.npr.org/2014/07/22/333741495/before-snowden-the-...

Working within the system to blow a whistle is... risky, you'll end up like Bill Binney, or Thomas Drake, and almost no one will hear about you.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Daniel Hale Receives 45-Month Sentence for Releasing Dron... by JumpCrisscross on Friday July 30, 2021 @11:17PM (#28014957)

Might the solution be an independent agency which centralises whistleblowing? Whose decisions are appealable to the courts and legally required to balance public interest and national security?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Daniel Hale Receives 45-Month Sentence for Releasing Dron... by kodah on Friday July 30, 2021 @11:28PM (#28015008)

I can't speak for the rest of the government, but I can speak for internal whistleblowing of the Marine Corps. You can "request mast" all the way up to the Commandant, which is the tippy top. I think it's possible that some whistleblowing is discarded when it should have been honored, but I think for the most part these processes exist and are in-tact. Now, whether there's a perception that you can use them effectively is another issue.

Let's not forget someone whistleblew on the President amid a highly political environment in recent memory. That's no short order.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Daniel Hale Receives 45-Month Sentence for Releasing Dron... by erosenbe0 on Saturday July 31, 2021 @12:32AM (#28015323)

There is no recognized public right to know any information that subverts the defense apparatus or benefits a foreign adversary. So even if you want to reveal a war crime you may need to wait until after it can't be proven in court to jeopardize national security. Until such time you would need to limit your disclosure to approved channels.

Anything else is treated differently. Stuff like waste, abuse, environmental issues, discrimination and the like are usually a different ballgame.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Daniel Hale Receives 45-Month Sentence for Releasing Dron... by DubiousPusher on Saturday July 31, 2021 @02:45AM (#28015927)

Except that, "national security" has grown into an all encomoassing concern for juat this reason. It can be used to hide thay which is condemnable or embarassing.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Daniel Hale Receives 45-Month Sentence for Releasing Dron... by buck4roo on Saturday July 31, 2021 @03:19AM (#28016105)

"national security crimes" are actually "political crimes". There's a reason many countries exclude both "crimes" from extradition treaties.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_security#Impact_on_ci...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Daniel Hale Receives 45-Month Sentence for Releasing Dron... by hashkb on Friday July 30, 2021 @11:23PM (#28014981)

Who would fund this? No chance of the same corruption in that independent organization designed to oversee a much more powerful one.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Daniel Hale Receives 45-Month Sentence for Releasing Dron... by ALittleLight on Saturday July 31, 2021 @12:50AM (#28015395)

Which intelligence agency connected folks have consequentially blown the whistle through institutional channels?

[ Parent | on HN ]