The Intercept refuses to reveal if Hale indeed was their source and adds "Following in the dangerous path of the Obama administration, the Trump administration is continuing to use the Espionage Act to prosecute whistleblowers who enable journalists to uncover disgraceful, immoral, and unconstitutional acts committed in secret by the U.S. government. At The Intercept, we stand firmly opposed to all such prosecutions."
The person who leaked these documents to The Intercept, revealed that the government classified anybody killed by U.S. drone strikes—even if they weren't the target—as militants, and that's how they were able to insist that civilians weren't being killed in significant numbers.
https://reason.com/2019/05/09/he-helped-reveal-how-u-s-drone-strikes-were-killing-innocents-the-feds-just-charged-him-with-espionage/
