Ex-Air Force intelligence analyst sentenced to 45 months in prison for leaking classified info about US drone program

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A former Air Force intelligence analyst has been sentenced to 45 months in prison for leaking top secret information about the U.S. government’s drone strike program to a journalist. Daniel Hale of Nashville, Tennessee, has said he was motivated by guilt when he disclosed to an investigative reporter details of a program that he believed was indiscriminately killing civilians in Afghanistan far away from the battlefield. Prosecutors have argued that Hale, who deployed to Afghanistan in August 2012 and was honorably discharged less than a year later, abused the government’s trust and knew what he was doing was wrong.