Daniel Hale, an Air Force veteran and former U.S. intelligence analyst turned anti-war activist was arrested May 9thand charged with violating the Espionage Act. Daniel is a well-known anti-drone activist who has spoken out a number of anti-war events and conferences. He is also featured in the award-winning documentary “National Bird.”

Daniel is a member of About Face: Veterans Against the War (formerly Iraq Veterans Against the War), and often appeared at events wearing a button supporting WikiLeaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning.

For years, Daniel has expressed concern that he would be targeted by the government for his activism. It appears that while the Obama Justice Department opted to not go after him, the Trump Administration is going back in time in order to wage their war on whistleblowers.

From Democracy Now, May 10th:

Daniel Hale, 31, was arrested in Nashville. He faces up to 50 years in prison. Hale is accused of disclosing 11 top secret or secret documents to a reporter. The indictment does not name the reporter but unnamed government sources have told media outlets that the reporter is investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill of The Intercept. In 2015, The Intercept published a special report called the Drone Papers exposing the inner workings of the U.S. military’s assassination program in Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia.