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Whistleblower Daniel Hale Sentenced To 45 Months In Prison For Drone Program Leaks

Whistleblower Daniel Hale at a peace protest in front of the White House.
From the documentary "National Bird" / Torsten Lapp
Whistleblower Daniel Hale at a peace protest in front of the White House.

On this edition of Your Call, we're discussing the case of former Air Force intelligence analyst Daniel Hale, who leaked classified information about the US military's drone assassination program in 2014. In a statement, he said: “It’s wrong to kill. It’s especially wrong to kill the defenseless." On Tuesday, he was sentenced to 45 months in prison.

We'll also discuss the growing Pentagon budget. This week, the Senate Armed Services Committee endorsed a $25 billion increase to the Pentagon’s current $715 billion budget. Senator Elizabeth Warren was the only member of the committee to vote against the increase.

Guests:

Chip Gibbins, Policy Director at Defending Rights & Dissent and host of their Primary Sources podcast

Ann Wright, a retired Colonel who was in the US Army for 29 years who is now an anti-drone and peace activist for Veterans for Peace and Code Pink

Web Resources:

The Intercept: The Drone Papers: Secret documents detail the US assassination program

Common Dreams, Kenny Stancil: Drone Whistleblower Daniel Hale Sentenced to 45 Months in Prison 'For Exposing US War Crimes'

Drone whistleblower Daniel Hale Pre-Sentencing Letter

NY Mag, Kerry Howley: Daniel Hale exposed the machinery of America’s clandestine warfare. Why did no one seem to care?

Politico, Connor O’Brien: Senate Democrats defied Biden in their vote to boost Pentagon spending. And it wasn't even close

Rose Aguilar has been the host of Your Call since 2006. She became a regular media roundtable guest in 2001. In 2019, the San Francisco Press Club named Your Call the best public affairs program. In 2017, The Nation named it the most valuable local radio show.
Lea is a producer for Your Call on KALW Local Public Radio. She graduated from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY in 2018.