<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11727151" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="daniel-hale">Daniel Hale</keyword>, a former intel analyst, faces 11 years in prison for leaking docs on US <keyword id="439809" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="drone-strikes">drone strikes</keyword>.</li><li>Hale wrote an 11-page letter to the court explaining why he leaked the docs, offering gruesome details.</li><li>"I came to believe that the policy of drone assassination was being used to mislead the public," Hale wrote.</li></ul><p>"War is trauma."</p><p>Those are the words of Daniel Hale, a former US Air Force intelligence analyst who is facing up to 11 years in prison for leaking a trove of documents about the US drone program to a journalist from the Intercept. </p><p>Ahead of his sentencing, which is set for Tuesday, Hale wrote <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21015583-daniel-hale-letter-to-judge-liam-ogrady">an emotionally raw letter</a> with gruesome details about US drone strikes to explain to Judge Liam O'Grady why he leaked the documents and violated the Espionage Act. </p><p>In the 11-page, handwritten letter that was filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Hale offered details on what he described as "the most harrowing day of my life" that took place months into his deployment in Afghanistan. </p><p>Hale said it was "a routine surveillance mission turned into disaster."</p><p>It was back in 2012, and Hale found himself watching a car being driven by a suspected bomb-maker from Jalalabad head toward Pakistan. Hale's superiors were "alarmed" and feared that the suspect was trying to escape across the border, prompting the car to be targeted with a drone strike. </p><p>"It was a windy and clouded afternoon when one of the suspects had been discovered heading east at a high rate of speed," Hale wrote. "A drone strike was our only chance and already it began lining up to take the shot."</p><p>But the payload missed the target, and the car "continued on ahead after narrowly avoiding destruction" before stopping. A man emerged and looked shocked he was still alive. To Hale's surprise, a woman also stepped out and rushed to the trunk.</p><p>Hale would later learn the woman was the man's wife and she was checking on their two young children who had been in the back. Afghan soldiers found the children - ages three and five - in a nearby dumpster the next day. </p><p>"The eldest was found dead due to unspecified wounds caused by shrapnel that pierced her body. Her younger sister was alive but severely dehydrated," Hale said, going on to describe his distress over his commanding officer being more disgusted with the children being left in the dumpster than with the fact they had "errantly fired on a man and his family, having killed one of his daughters."</p><p>"Whenever I encounter an individual who thinks that drone warfare is justified and reliably keeps America safe, I remember that time and ask myself how I could possibly continue to believe that I am a good person, deserving of my life and the right to pursue happiness," Hale went on to say. </p><p>The letter provides details on other drone strikes Hale witnessed, including one that occurred within days of his arrival to Afghanistan. In this instance, a group of men carrying weapons gathered to drink tea. Among them was a suspected member of the Taliban, which Hale said was "enough evidence to place them under suspicion as well." </p><p>"Despite having peacefully assembled, posing no threat, the fate of the now tea drinking men had all but been fulfilled," Hale wrote. "I could only look on as I sat by and watched through a computer monitor when a sudden, terrifying flurry of Hellfire missiles came crashing down, splattering purple-colored crystal guts on the side of the morning mountain."</p><p>Hale went on to write about how his experiences were at odds with President Barack Obama's public assurances that drone strikes helped protect the US and that all steps were being taken to prevent civilian casualties. </p><p>"I came to believe that the policy of drone assassination was being used to mislead the public that it keep[s] us safe, and when I finally left the military, still processing ... I began to speak out, believing my participation in the drone program to have been deeply wrong," Hale said. </p><p>Prosecutors have called for Hale to spend 11 years behind bars for leaking documents on the US drone program, contending that "vanity overrode the commitments he made to his country," <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/07/26/daniel-hale-letter-guilt/?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_campaign=wp_main=wp_main">per the Washington Post.</a> Hale pleaded guilty in March. But Hale and his lawyers have called for no more than 12 to 18 months, stating that he leaked the documents due to "irreconcilable moral conflict."</p><div type="image" title="Mugshot of Daniel Hale" height="1500" width="2000" msid="84776832" hostid="261"></div><h2>The US drone war has been going on for almost 20 years</h2><p>The use of <keyword id="94769" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="drones">drones</keyword> and drone strikes by the US in counterterrorism operations began in 2002 under the Bush administration, but escalated dramatically under Obama.</p><p>By the time Obama came into office, the US public was war-weary and the prospect of sending troops into dangerous places had become increasingly unpopular. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, offered an ostensible solution. They allowed the US to surveil and target suspected terrorists without putting US troops in harm's way.</p><p>Critics of the drone program have contended that it kills too many civilians, excoriating the US government's dubious legal and ethical justifications for drone strikes. Similar to strikes described by Hale, the US has conducted what are known as "signature strikes" - strikes that target military-aged men on battlefields without full confirmation they were plotting against the US or posed a significant threat. </p><p>There are also critics and scholars who've made the case that US drone strikes serve as a recruiting poster for terrorism by increasing enmity toward America. In 2010, a man named Faisal Shahzad was arrested for attempting to bomb Times Square - and he <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/19/times-square-bomber">cited US drone strikes</a> as his motivation. </p><p>The US government has consistently faced criticism over a lack of transparency surrounding drone strikes - particularly in relation to civilian casualties. Many strikes have occurred in remote, dangerous areas, making it difficult for journalists or independent organizations to verify details. Official reports on civilian casualties from the US government tend to run <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/01/obama-drones-strikes-civilian-deaths">far lower than those from independent observers.</a></p><p>The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a UK-based organization that has tracked US drone strikes for years, estimates that <a href="https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/projects/drone-war">between 8,858 and 16,901 people</a> have been killed by US drone strikes and other covert operations since 2004 in Pakistan,  Yemen, Somalia, and Afghanistan - including up to 2,200 civilians. </p><p>Obama responded to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/obama-says-couldnt-look-soft-terrorism-as-a-liberal-president-2020-11">criticism of US drone strikes</a> by pledging greater transparency and putting safeguards in place to protect civilians, signing an executive order in July 2016 along those lines. The Trump administration <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-has-expanded-obamas-drone-war-to-shadow-war-zones-2018-11">abandoned many of those changes,</a> showing less concern for civilian casualties. </p><p>Under President Joe Biden, who pledged to end "forever wars," the US has <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/01/us-drone-strikes-all-time-low-biden-forever-wars/">cut back on drone strikes in a massive way</a> compared to past administrations. This has occurred as the administration reviews standards for military and covert operations. </p>

Ex-intel analyst says seeing a US drone kill a child pushed him to leak military documents that he faces 11 years behind bars over

<ul><li>In our series, BTS with Insiders, we take a walk down memory lane, and give you an insider's view of some of the most iconic Indian ads.</li><li>This week <keyword id="1112320" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="KV-Sridhar">KV Sridhar</keyword>, Global Chief Creative Officer of Nihilent Hypercollective takes us back in time and tells us some brilliant stories from the sets of Taj Mahal Tea's Waah Taj, Saint Gobain's Invisible Glass while he also talks about the <keyword id="9297051" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Fevicol-bus-ad">Fevicol Bus ad</keyword> that he considers to be one of his most favorite campaigns. </li></ul><br />KV Sridhar aka Pops has been a part of the Indian ad industry for about 42 years now. Unsurprisingly, he is a chronicler of all things advertising in India. With his book 30 Second Thrillers that he launched a few years back, Pops took us behind-the-scenes of some of the most iconic ads our country has seen. We tried to do something similar on our show BTS with Insiders.<br /><br /> Currently the Global Chief Creative Officer of Nihilent Hypercollective, Sridhar is a treasure-trove of anecdotes from the fascinating world of advertising and he regaled us with some stories during our conversation too.<br /><br /><div type="javascript" title="Facebook" contenttype="Video"><cdata><![CDATA[]]></cdata></div><br /> <b>Taj Mahal Tea’s Waah Taj</b><br /><br /> In the latter half of the 80’s, Brooke Bond’s Taj Mahal Tea was facing a slowdown in terms of growth. The brand’s advertising, like most other brands during those days, was completely westernized. The task at hand for the brand at that time was to make the brand more Indian, and therefore more relevant and appealing to a far wider set of audience.<br /><br /> KS Chakravarthy who the ad world lovingly calls Chax, has been Pops’ long-term partner. So the two of them along with account planner Dhiren Chadda used to work on the brand. Chadda had, time and again, told Pops that there was a need to attune the brand to middle-class Indian sentiments. And he used to say, “It should be fine and refined like a Chiffon saree.” However, Pops shares that his idea of Indianness was very different. “I wanted it to be like a cotton or a jute saree, which is the fabric of India,” he explained.<br /><br /> The agency wanted to Indianize the brand as well as make a statement that its quality is impeccable. And that is where <keyword id="8925" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Zakir-Hussain">Zakir Hussain</keyword> came into the picture. Pops added that Hussain and his tabla were an analogy for the perfectionism that goes behind making the perfect tea, and the critical role of a tea-taster. And while not many people knew what Zakir Hussain looked like (since TV was just making an entry into Indian homes and most people had heard the maestro on the radio till then), Pops said that he was completely Indian in the way he looked, smiled or when it came to his music.<br /><br /> Pops also shared some treasured moments from the time they filmed the ad, when Hussain played ‘Happy Birthday to you’ on the tabla for Chax whose birthday fell during the shoot days. “Those days, it took us a lot more time to finish work on films. But at the end of the day, if we enjoy doing it, people will enjoy watching it. Even today, Zakir Hussain says people use <keyword id="9297050" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="waah-ustad">Waah Ustad</keyword> when he performs and he secretly cherishes being called that,” shared Pops.<br /><br /> <b>Saint Gobain’s Invisible Glass</b><br /><br /> This was an ad that Saint Gobain did in around 2000. At that time, Pops was a part of Lintas. On a trip to their Chennai office, he discovered that the creative team there had spent all the money that the client had given them on the announcement of a factory inauguration on double spread newspaper ads. And the remaining money was then used on newspaper campaigns announcing a visit by the French ambassador. “That’s when I realized they had used up their 2 years’ budget in 2 days. I felt very bad and asked the team to take me to the client. Lintas is the most audacious agency I’ve ever worked with. I went to the client. B Santhanam was the Managing Director of the brand. And I apologized to him. I told him we had wasted the money and this is not the way we use available funds. I told him we needed to build the brand and make sure the right people know about your brand. There was a need to tell people about the products they were making, it was our job to turn those products into brands. So I told him, tell me what money you have and we will try and make up for the silliness we have done,” shared Pops.<br /><br /> That’s how one of the brand’s most well-known campaigns in India came about. “We did this commercial at a time when the average cost of each commercial used to be between Rs 30-60 lakh. However, I produced this commercial for 6 lakh with one of the best directors we have, <keyword id="271660" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ram-Madhvani">Ram Madhvani</keyword>. We shot the ad in Renaissance Hotel in Powai. The woman in the ad was actually a carpet exporter with a permit to work. She did the film almost for free. The two men in the ad are actually cooks in roadside carts. We virtually spent nothing on the ad, we had actors, we created an original music track. Suzanne Caplan Merwanji, who is one of the most well-known production stylists in Bollywood styled the film for us. Everybody did it because I said there was no money, and they wanted to do it for me. Ram used to call it a Pops Relief Fund,” added he with a laugh.<br /><br /> The strategy was to own a generic benefit and talk about what they are good at. The strategy worked, and did wonders for the brand. “We shot the ad in less than 8 hours but it went on to make them one of the most successful brands in the company. We wanted to make it look international because it was the first time a brand came to India and said it wanted to look international. Otherwise most brands would say they wanted to sound and look Indian. But we had to desperately do this because a lot of dealers used to think that its an Indian company and they used to think the name of the company was Sant Gobin and that it was a Ludhiana-based company. So we added that international touch and the ads that followed also had a bit of an international look and feel,” added Pops.<br /><br /> <b>On <keyword id="6375200" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="PIYUSH-PANDEY">Piyush Pandey</keyword>’s Fevicol Bus ad</b><br /><br /> While every episode creators talk about three ads they have worked on, Pops said he also wanted to talk about one of his most favorite ads of all times. And that’s how we got talking about Fevicol’s Bus ad, that has to be one of the most iconic ads created by Piyush and <keyword id="1397913" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Prasoon-Pandey">Prasoon Pandey</keyword> for brand Fevicol.<br /><br /> “I love advertising and I consider myself belonging to the family of Indian advertising. This is one ad I have loved because of the craft of it. All Fevicol ads are brilliant but this craftsmanship is flawless. That year when this campaign was released, I was a part of a lot of international juries and I had spoken about the culture of India and why this was so relevant and I defended the ad at a lot of juries,” he reminisced.<br /><br /> About what he found unmatched about this ad, Pops said, “Apart from the colourful world that the ad creates, there are a few more things I like about the ad. The ad was shot in Pushkar which is a favorite place of both Piyush and Prasoon because its half the coloufulness of Rajasthan and half desert. But there were a lot of stories. There were close to 120 people sitting on that bus, with animals as well. But it wasn’t just about getting people, it was also about placing people where they were placed. The bus needed to sway to make the entire thing more beautiful. They could only shoot for 3-4 hours in the day to get the perfect light. So to get the sway, they dug the road, but it did not exactly sway. They then put speed breakers but even that did not make the bus sway the way Prasoon wanted it. Then they went and created ditches on alternate sides, leaving some gap. And that’s what made the bus sway the way it did in the film.”<br /><br /> The effort which went into making the campaign made it what it is, and even today Fevicol’s Bus ad is one of the most iconic gems to come out of Indian advertising. <br /><br /> <br /><br />

#BTSwithInsiders: When KV Sridhar spoke to us about the ads closest to his heart

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Anisha Shah</span></p></div><p></p></div></div><em>Anisha Shah is a broadcast journalist and photojournalist, </em>specialising <em></em>in<em> travel to emerging destinations. After six years as a BBC radio and TV journalist, she's now a freelancer published across CNN, BBC Travel and Huffington Post. Tweet her @<a href="https://twitter.com/anishahbbc">anishahbbc</a></em></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">2016 is all about emerging destinations. Wilderness, wildlife and culture; these themes will illuminate the year's travel itineraries. Escapism and authenticity are key and nowhere offers them quite like fledgling and far-flung nations. Kyrgyzstan's vast rolling mountains, Iceland's wild natural phenomena, Madagascar's prehistoric lemurs and Taiwan's cultural treasure troves are some of the highlights marking the year ahead. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Whether it's staring into the eyes of a wild gorilla in Gabon, joining indigenous tribal dances in rainforests of Papua New Guinea or drinking yak butter tea with nomads in a </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">ger</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in the Gobi desert, unique experience is paramount. And with travel becoming more accessible, the world is conceivable. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Leaving no stone unturned, this is our pick of the 12 emerging destinations adventurers and trendsetters will love in 2016: </span></p>

12 emerging travel destinations that you have to visit in 2016

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div><br>On June 5, 1989, one day after China's government began <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tiananmen-square-photos-2014-5">violently cracking down on protestors in Beijing's Tiananmen Square</a>, a lone man, dressed in black pants and a white shirt, decided to take action against an approaching line of military tanks, en route to suppress protestors.</br></p><p>In an act of nonviolent protest, the man, who to this day remains unidentified, calmly walked in front of the procession of tanks, forcing the lead tank to halt. As the tank tried to move around him, the man repeatedly shifted his position, continuing to block the progress of the tanks and creating a symbolic gesture of opposition that still holds power today.</p><p><span>Friday marks the 26th anniversary of that day, that man's actions, and the famous photograph of him that shocked the world.</span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div><br>Photographer Stuart Franklin, a contributing member Magnum, a famous photojournalist and photographer collective, was there, shooting from a balcony at the Beijing Hotel.</br></p><p>The following day, after his roll of film was smuggled out of China in a packet of tea and delivered to the Magnum offices in Paris, the "Tank Man" image appeared on front pages everywhere. Three other photographers also snapped the scene, but Franklin's image is arguably the most iconic, having appeared in Time and Life magazines, and winning him a World Press Award.</p><p>25 years later, the iconic image is back in the spotlight. Franklin's contact sheet <span>-</span> <span>a piece of photographic paper containing thumbnails of all the exposures from a specific roll of film <span>-</span> was recently part of Magnum's show of famous contact sheets at Manhattan's <a href="http://milkmade.com/articles/2718-Milk-Gallery-Presents-The-Magnum-Contact-Sheet-Exhibition#.U8Q2dI1dXWp" target="_blank">Milk Gallery</a>.<span><br /></span></span></p><p><span>The sheets, which were used b<span>y photographers and photo editors to make image selections before computers and digital photography rendered them obsolete, <span>are treasure troves of information. They show outtakes and behind-the-scenes images from a specific photoshoot or event, helping the viewer to gain a better sense of the process and the mindset of the photographer.</span></span></span></p><h3>Franklin's contact sheet from Tiananmen Square contains multiple slide exposures taken from a balcony of the Beijing Hotel, giving us a new perspective on the event and photographic process.</h3><h2><span style="color: #ff0000;">(Double click to zoom in and explore the contact sheet in more detail, or <a href="http://zoom.it/JQ1f">click here for an enlarged version on mobile</a>.)</span></h2><h3> </h3><h3>The exposures show "Tank Man" entering the fray and standing in front of the tank before finally being grabbed and moved out of the scene by others. We can also see where Stuart takes a risk and rushes back into his hotel room to change out his lens for a closer shot.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div>Take a closer look at some of the exposures. Here, we see the tanks beginning their march towards the Square.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div>"Tank Man" enters the frame.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div>Here's the image that made it to the front page of newspapers around the world.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div>Finally, thanks to the contact sheet, we can see Tank Man being escorted away by others. Who they were is still a topic of debate<span style="font-size: 1.17em;">.</span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div></h3>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hikers-navigate-dangerous-great-wall-of-china-2015-5">This is one of the most dangerous parts of China's Great Wall</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="BoaG4wdToj-7v8R762HZ01T9_A7_0jRR" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Behind-the-scenes images tell the story of the iconic Tiananmen Square "Tank Man" photo, taken 26 years ago today

I shopped at Aldi and Lidl to see which grocery store was better, and the newer chain was clearly superior

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>© Stuart Franklin / Magnum Photos</span></p><p class="caption">This iconic image appeared in news reports around the world, and is one of the most famous photos ever taken.</p></div><p></p></div></div><br />On June 5th, 1989, one day after China's government b<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tiananmen-square-photos-2014-5">egan violently cracking down on protestors in Beijing's Tiananmen Square</a>, a lone man, dressed in black pants and a white shirt, decided to take action against an approaching line of military tanks, en route to suppress protestors.</p>
<p>In an act of nonviolent protest, the man, who to this day remains unidentified, calmly walked in front of the procession of tanks, forcing the lead tank to halt. As the tank tried to move around him, the man repeatedly shifted his position, continuing to block the progress of the tanks and creating a symbolic gesture of opposition that still holds power today.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Tim Chong</span></p><p class="caption">Stuart Franklin</p></div><p></p></div></div><br />Photographer Stuart Franklin, a contributing member Magnum, a famous photojournalist and photographer collective, was there, shooting from a balcony at the Beijing Hotel.</p>
<p>The following day, after his roll of film was smuggled out of China in a packet of tea and delivered to the Magnum offices in Paris, the "Tank Man" image appeared on front pages everywhere. Three other photographers also snapped the scene, but Franklin's image is arguably the most iconic, having appeared in Time and Life magazines, and winning him a World Press Award.</p>
<p>25 years later, the iconic image is back in the spotlight. Franklin's contact sheet <span>-</span> <span>a piece of photographic paper containing thumbnails of all the exposures from a specific roll of film <span>-</span> was recently part of Magnum's show of famous contact sheets at Manhattan's <a href="http://milkmade.com/articles/2718-Milk-Gallery-Presents-The-Magnum-Contact-Sheet-Exhibition#.U8Q2dI1dXWp" target="_blank">Milk Gallery</a>.<span><br /></span></span></p>
<p><span>The sheets, which were used b<span>y photographers and photo editors to make image selections before computers and digital photography rendered them obsolete, <span>are treasure troves of information. They show outtakes and behind-the-scenes images from a specific photoshoot or event, helping the viewer to gain a better sense of the process and the mindset of the photographer.</span></span></span></p>
<h3>Franklin's contact sheet from Tiananmen Square contains multiple slide exposures taken from a balcony of the Beijing Hotel, giving us a new perspective on the event and photographic process. (Double click to zoom in and explore the contact sheet in more detail.)</h3>

<h3>The exposures show "Tank Man" entering the fray and standing in front of the tank before finally being grabbed and moved out of the scene by others. We can also see where Stuart takes a risk and rushes back into his hotel room to change out his lens for a closer shot.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Magnum/Stuart Franklin</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>Take a closer look at some of the exposures. Here, we see the tanks beginning their march towards the Square.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Magnum/Stuart Franklin</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>"Tank Man" enters the frame.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Magnum/Stuart Franklin</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>Here's the image that made it to the front page of newspapers around the world.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Magnum/Stuart Franklin</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>Finally, thanks to the contact sheet, we can see Tank Man being escorted away by others. Who they were is still a topic of debate<span style="font-size: 1.17em;">.</span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Magnum/Stuart Franklin</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></h3>

Incredible Behind-The-Scenes Images Tell The Story Of The Tiananmen Square 'Tank Man' Photo 

<p><span class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right click-to-enlarge"><span><span data-post-image="" class="image on-image"><a title_source="Flickr / Malamud" title_caption="Amazon's top reviewers get tons of free products " class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5495fe4e69bedd26570a7d47-960/pile-amazon-boxes-5.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><span class="source"><span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/publicresourceorg/4245550588">Flickr / Malamud</a></span></span><span class="caption">Amazon's top reviewers get tons of free products </span></span><p></p></span></span>Being an&#xa0;<a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/top-reviewers">Amazon top reviewer</a>&#xa0;is highly-competitive and kind of surreal.&#xa0;</p>
<p>"I get hate mail. I've had death threats. But then I also have fans who seem to follow everything I do," Mandy Payne, Amazon's #10 top reviewer, told&#xa0;<a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/12/19/meet-amazon-reviewer/cT2Je5nxxUBFa49A4e8W7I/story.htmlhttp://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/12/19/meet-amazon-reviewer/cT2Je5nxxUBFa49A4e8W7I/story.html">The Boston Globe's Billy Baker</a>. "It's bizarre."</p>
<p>Payne is part of the company's&#xa0;<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/vine/help" target="_blank">elite, invitation-only Vine program</a>, which means that she gets boatloads of new products sent to her for free.</p>
<p>Amazon started the Vine program seven years ago to help increase its number of useful reviews. Its only stipulations are that participants need to write reviews of the objects they receive and they can't resell the products afterwards. Companies pay a fee to Amazon to participate.&#xa0;</p>
<p>The system used to be that Vine Voices would receive a list of goods to choose from every month, but now, they constantly have a queue of new products that they can browse and ask for.</p>
<p>However, prolific top reviewers also often catch the eye of companies desperate for reviews who will send their products over unbidden.&#xa0;Payne told The Globe that every day she receives 15 to 30 boxes of free products (she has received so many Bluetooth speakers, she gave them out on Halloween).</p>
<p>Joanna Daneman, Amazon's #1 Hall Of Fame reviewer,&#xa0;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/top-amazon-reviewer-joanna-daneman-2014-10">told Business Insider in October</a>&#xa0;that the trove of stuff Amazon sends her each month is "almost an embarrassment of riches."</p>
<p>Like Payne and her hate mail, Daneman admits the Vine program has kindled jealousy in reviewers who aren't part of it. Other Amazon reviewers will sometimes ding a review just because a Vine Voice wrote it. Daneman insists that free items doesn't necessarily equate to a glowing review.&#xa0;</p>
<p>Daneman receives a wide range of free products through Vine, from the super-expensive to the strange, including strobe lights, green tea powder, a "zombie dissection kit," memory cards, knives, a printer, a soldering iron, baby toys, and a Japanese kitty litter system. Often they're things that Daneman never would have thought to purchase herself otherwise.</p>
<p>When Daneman spoke to Business Insider she had just received a welder, which she planned to test out on a friend's farm over the weekend..</p>
<p>Right now, Amazon's current #1 reviewer is a woman name Ali Julia. Julia has written 2,867 reviews. Payne has penned 2,529. Daneman, 3,067. Amazon won't give away exactly how it determines its rankings, but users speculate it's a combination of frequency and how often a reviewers posts are marked as helpful by customers.&#xa0;</p>
<p>Daneman told The Globe that she knows from experience that the rankings can be competitive.</p>
<p>"There is definitely targeting. It's well known," she told The Globe. "You just have to keep calm and keep reviewing."</p>
<p>But there's also a strong community aspect.&#xa0;</p>
<p>Daneman's fast-paced review-writing habit started in the early 2000s. She was living in Germany at the time and fell in love with Amazon because it was the easiest way for her to get her hands on English books. Daneman is a voracious reader - whipping through 30 or 40 books a month - and since shipping costs so much, she'd carefully pick through reviews before ordering a book.</p>
<p>Daneman started posting reviews in earnest in the early 2000s, when she was living in Germany and used Amazon to feed her reading addiction. After she read each book she had ordered and recieved, she'd write a fun, thorough review. Her insights attracted a following, and when she came back to the states, she actually had several people come visit her. She's still friends with several other reviewers.&#xa0;</p>
<p>"Amazon created a community," Daneman says. "Wherever else you might buy things online, you're not talking to anybody. On Amazon, you're yakking away to a bunch of people."</p>
<p class="tagline">Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.</p>

What It's Like To Be One Of Amazon's Top Reviewers: 'I Get Death Threats'

<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="plus.google.com" title_caption="Amazon reviewer legend Joanna Daneman back in the day." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5437cdb26bb3f7dc4ed60605-960/photo-216.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span><a href="https://plus.google.com/107009697275167521542/posts">plus.google.com</a></span></p><p class="caption">Amazon reviewer legend Joanna Daneman back in the day.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Being Amazon's top reviewer comes with some sweet perks.</span></p>
<p>Just ask Joanna Daneman, a Delaware woman who has achieved Amazon's Hall of Fame recognition 12 different years, making her the #1 Hall Of Fame reviewer of all time.</p>
<p>She's part of the company's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/vine/help" target="_blank">elite, invitation-only Vine program</a>, which means that she gets boatloads of new products sent to her for free.</p>
<p>"It's almost an embarrassment of riches," Daneman tells Business Insider of the trove of stuff Amazon sends her at least once a month. </p>
<p>Amazon started the Vine program seven years ago to help increase its number of useful reviews. Its only stipulations are that participants need to write reviews of the objects they receive and they can't resell the products afterwards. Companies pay a fee to Amazon to participate. </p>
<p>Since joining Amazon, Daneman has written nearly 3,000 reviews, 97% of which other Amazon users <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A1IU7S4HCK1XK0/ref=cm_cr_tr_tbl_hof_name" target="_blank">have deemed exceptionally helpful</a> and says that she averages one post a day, though sometimes it's much more.</p>
<p>Although she isn't the most prolific reviewer on Amazon (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/AFVQZQ8PW0L/ref=cm_cr_tr_tbl_hof_name" target="_blank">another Hall of Fame</a> member has written more than 30,000), Daneman's reviews are insightful, easy to read, full of detail and personal touches, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/vine/help" target="_blank">occasionally funny</a>. </p>
<p>Here's her profile at the top of Amazon's rankings:</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image"><a title_source="Amazon" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/541b686fecad04f06d510229-960/amazon_s_top_customer_reviewers.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/hall-of-fame">Amazon</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>Daneman receives a wide range of free products through Vine, from the super-expensive to the strange, including strobe lights, green tea powder, a "zombie dissection kit," memory cards, knives, a printer, a soldering iron, baby toys, and a Japanese kitty litter system. Often they're things that Daneman never would have thought to purchase herself otherwise.</p>
<p>When Daneman spoke to Business Insider she had just recieved a welder, which she planned to test out on a friend's farm over the weekend.</p>
<p>The system used to be that Vine Voices would receive a list of goods to choose from every month, but now, Daneman says, she constantly has a queue of new products that she can browse. She says can't even guesstimate the value of what she's recieved over the last seven years, but it is a <em>lot</em>. </p>
<p>Here's a five-star review Daneman wrote about a toy bear (she has a friend with a young child) that's packed with colorful details:</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image"><a title_source="Amazon" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5437db4f6bb3f72908d60604-960/screen shot 2014-10-10 at 9.10.36 am.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A1IU7S4HCK1XK0">Amazon</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p><span>But Daneman doesn't always give our five stars. She says she has recieved a lot of really good kitchen stuff, but this strawberry slicer didn't make the cut:</span></p>
<p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image"><a title_source="Amazon " title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5437d7bbeab8ea7b60e5d672-960/screen shot 2014-10-10 at 8.55.58 am.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A1IU7S4HCK1XK0/ref=pdp_new_read_full_review_link?ie=UTF8&amp;page=22&amp;sort_by=MostRecentReview#R364LH7OYS4UD9">Amazon </a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div><br /></span></p>
<p><span>Daneman admits the Vine program has kindled jealousy in reviewers who aren't part of it, who will sometimes ding a review just because a "Vine Voice," as members are called, wrote it. Daneman insists that just because she gets products for free doesn't mean that she'll give them glowing reviews, and that there is no obligation to do so from Amazon or the companies who supply the products. </span></p>
<p>Daneman's fast-paced review-writing habit started in the early 2000s. She was living in Germany at the time and fell in love with Amazon because it was the easiest way for her to get her hands on English books. Daneman is a voracious reader - whipping through 30 or 40 books a month - and since shipping costs so much, she'd carefully pick through reviews before ordering a book.</p>
<p>She always found community reviews to be the most helpful, so she started writing some of her own as a way to give back. Her fun, frequent, and thorough reviews attracted a following, and when she came back to the states, she actually had several people come visit her. She's still friends with several other reviewers. </p>
<p>Daneman kept her habit going because she loves to write, but doesn't like to journal. She works as a financial advisor at Edward Jones and doesn't write for her job, so she keeps her skills sharp through Amazon. Before Edward Jones, she was a product manager at HP.</p>
<p>"Amazon created a community," Daneman says. "Wherever else you might buy things online, you're not talking to anybody. On Amazon, you're yakking away to a bunch of people."</p><p class="tagline">Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.</p>

How This Woman Became The Top Reviewer On Amazon And Started Getting Tons Of Free Stuff

<p class="source"><span>Thomson Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">U.S. President Barack Obama (R) greets President-elect Donald Trump at inauguration ceremonies swearing in Trump as president on the West front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S.</p>President Donald Trump criticized former President Barack Obama in a series of tweets last weekend and into Monday evening, slamming Obama for what he characterized as a weak or nonexistent response to Russia's interference in the 2016 election.<p><span>"Just out: The Obama Administration knew far in advance of November 8th about election meddling by Russia. Did nothing about it. WHY?" Trump tweeted Friday.</span></p><p><span>"Since the Obama Administration was told way before the 2016 Election that the Russians were meddling, why no action? Focus on them, not T!" he tweeted on Saturday.</span></p><p><span>And on Monday, he wrote: "The reason that President Obama did NOTHING about Russia after being notified by the CIA of meddling is that he expected Clinton would win and did not want to 'rock the boat.' The real story is that President Obama did NOTHING after being informed in August about Russian meddling."</span></p><p><span>But some former Obama officials and national-security experts sought to push back on that developing narrative as it gained traction in the Trump administration and its allies in Washington and in conservative media. </span></p><p><span>They pointed to the fact that Obama authorized then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Homeland Security Secretary Johnson to release an extraordinary public statement on October 7 acknowledging, for the first time, that "the Russian Government directed" hacks on the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta. </span></p><p><span>Obama also used a nuclear "red phone" - a direct line between Washington and Moscow set up during the Cold War - on October 31 <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/what-obama-said-putin-red-phone-about-election-hack-n697116" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">to send an explicit warning</a> to Putin: "International law, including the law for armed conflict, applies to actions in cyberspace. We will hold Russia to those standards."</span></p><p>Obama debated various ways to retaliate, "<span>including cyberattacks on Russian infrastructure, the release of CIA-gathered material that might embarrass Putin and sanctions that officials said could 'crater' the Russian economy," The Washington Post reported on Friday. Ultimately, Obama's response was characterized as tough but measured: he expelled 35 Russian diplomats, closed two Russian compounds, and levied a new, albeit narrow, sanctions package.</span></p><p><span>Ned Price, a senior director on the National Security Council and former special adviser to Obama, argued that Trump was "resorting to this playground tactic" of shifting blame for Russia's attack "because his own actions are indefensible."</span></p><p><span>"Let's not forget, he encouraged the Russians to hack his opponent's emails, he praised WikiLeaks - a veritable arm of Russian intelligence - and he has repeatedly denied the high confidence assessment of all 17 intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in our election," said Price, who spent over a decade at the CIA.</span></p><p><span>On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly cited information stolen by Russian-led hacks and published by WikiLeaks to criticize Clinton along the campaign trail.</span></p><p><span>"Did you see where, on WikiLeaks, it was announced that they were paying protestors to be violent, $1,500?... Did you see another one, another one came in today? This WikiLeaks is like a treasure trove," Trump said on October 31.</span></p><p><span>"Out today, WikiLeaks just came out with a new one, just a little a while ago, it's just been shown that a rigged system with more collusion, possibly illegal, between the Department of Justice, the Clinton campaign and the State Department," he said on November 2.</span></p><p><span>"Boy, I love reading those WikiLeaks," he said on November 4. </span></p><p><span>One month later, the Trump transition team </span><a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/trump-team-russia-cia-intel-election-232460">released a statement</a> <span>that appeared to cast doubt on the intelligence community's findings that Russia had meddled in the election with the specific purpose of damaging Clinton's candidacy and swinging voters towards Trump. The statement referred to the CIA as "the </span><span>same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction."</span></p><p><span></span></p><p class="source"><span>Thomson Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Russian President Putin speaks to journalists following a live nationwide broadcast call-in in Moscow</p><p><span>"I'm very glad that President Trump and his team think that we should have done more to stop the Russians," Tom Malinowski, who served as an assistant secretary of state under Obama from 2014 to 2017, joked about the current White House's recent attempts to shift blame. "I wish they'd have warned us earlier."</span></p><p><span>Price said the administration had "one paramount objective" when it came to responding to Russia's election meddling.</span></p><p><span>"To ensure the integrity of the most sacred element of our democracy, the vote. And as we noted at the time - and as has been reaffirmed following the transition - we have seen no evidence that the Russians tampered with the vote tally," Price said.</span></p><p><span></span><span>"We did that through a series of private and public warnings to the Russians, actions to sensitize election administration officials in all 50 states, and, of course, warnings to the American public starting a full month before the election about Russia's meddling," Price said. </span></p><p><span>He added that the administration didn't get "much support from the Republican congress."</span></p><p><span></span><span>"Mitch McConnell, for example, in September refused to sign on to a statement attributing the meddling to the Russians," Price said of the Senate majority leader.</span></p><p><span>Another Obama White House official, who asked for anonymity to speak candidly, </span><span>also cited McConnell's "unwillingness to help" as a major roadblock in the administration's efforts to retaliate.</span></p><p><span>"The Obama administration's interest in making sure the response was bipartisan wasn't for the sake of being bipartisan," the official said. "It was necessary because we needed the buy-in from state and local election administrators - many of whom were Republican partisans and/or skeptical of the federal government.  What was profoundly troubling was Senator McConnell's unwillingness to help, only making matters worse."</span></p><p><span>The official said the Obama administration took the Russian attack "extremely seriously." But even Malinowski, who has been highly critical of the Trump administration's Russia policies, said he struggles with whether the White House reacted aggressively enough.</span></p><p><span>"Should Obama have done more? I struggle with that a little bit," Malinowski said. </span></p><p><span>"Like a lot of people with the benefit of hindsight, I do now think we would have been better off as a country had we taken the actions that ultimately were taken a bit sooner," he added. "But I'm not certain it would have had a meaningful impact, and I completely understand the reasons for the president's reluctance at a moment when many people thought the greater danger was direct interference in the electoral machinery."</span></p><p><span></span></p><p class="source"><span>Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson is sworn in to testify about Russian meddling in the 2016 election before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 21, 2017</p><p><span><span>Malinowski echoed Price's assertion that one of the most important goals of Obama's response, if not the most important goal, "was to maintain confidence in the electoral outcome rather than allowing Trump and the Russians to achieve their secondary goal of sowing mistrust in a Hillary Clinton victory."</span></span></p><p><span><span>"O</span></span>bama may have been right that premature attribution and sanctions would have fallen into the trap that Trump and Putin were setting of preemptively accusing the elections of being rigged," he said.</p><p>Ian Bremmer, president of the political risk firm Eurasia Group, was unequivocal.</p><p>"Obama should have responded more forcefully," he said. "This was a direct (and ultimately successful) attempt to delegitimize the US election by a hostile external actor. If it had been at the hands of a terrorist organization we would have demanded drone strikes."</p><p>Bremmer said that while he understood Obama's concerns about any retaliation being perceived as politically motivated, "Obama's role as commander in chief supersedes any role on the campaign. <span>Telling the Russians to 'cut it out' and eventually throwing some sanctions together, linked also to harassment of US diplomats in Moscow, was exceptionally weak tea." </span></p><p><span>Engaging in "direct cyber attacks" against the Russians, such as taking down government sites or leaking information that would embarrass the Kremlin, would have been a better response, Bremmer said. According to the Washington Post, Obama authorized the US intelligence community to plant cyber weapons in Russia's infrastructure. But he left it up to the Trump administration to launch them.</span></p><p>"Our elected president shouldn't be kicking the can on something this important," Bremmer said. "But, to be clear, for all of Obama's ineffective finger wagging, that remains more than what Trump's done, who apparently is unconcerned (or potentially even supportive) of the Russian attacks."</p><p>Price agreed.</p><p>"T<span>he Trump administration has done nothing to bolster the defenses we set in motion," he said. "By denying Russia's meddling, turning a blind eye to Moscow's aggression, and seeking to reverse the Obama administration's punitive actions, the White House is leaving the door wide open for Moscow to return in 2018 and 2020."</span> </p>             <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ian-bremmer-indian-prime-minister-narendra-modi-has-transformed-country-2017-6">IAN BREMMER: 'The biggest opportunity out there right now has got to be India'</a></h3>                                    Please enable Javascript to watch this video

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