Media Kit

On April 4, 1997, U.S. Naval Intelligence Officer Jack Daly was struck in the eyes by a classified Russian laser weapon during an authorized surveillance mission in U.S. territorial waters. The U.S. government denied the incident for nearly three decades. This is the firsthand account of what happened — and the cover-up that followed.

On April 4, 1997, the author — a U.S. Naval Intelligence Officer — boarded a Canadian CH-124 Sea King helicopter for what should have been a routine surveillance mission against the Russian merchant vessel Kapitan Man, five nautical miles inside U.S. territorial waters in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The pilot, Royal Canadian Air Force Captain Patrick Barnes, and Daly were both struck in the eyes by a classified Russian laser weapon. The injuries were permanent. The U.S. government's response was to deny that the incident had occurred — publicly, for nearly three decades. Blind Treason is the firsthand account of the attack, the Washington cover-up that buried it, and the retired Naval Intelligence Officer who refused to stay silent once the 25-year declassification rule closed. Foreword by Bill Gertz of the Washington Times.

On April 4, 1997, U.S. Naval Intelligence Officer Jack Daly and Royal Canadian Air Force Captain Patrick Barnes lifted off in a Canadian CH-124 Sea King helicopter for a surveillance mission against the Russian merchant vessel Kapitan Man, which had entered U.S. territorial waters in the Strait of Juan de Fuca near Port Angeles, Washington. Within minutes of approaching the ship, both men were struck in the eyes by a classified Russian laser weapon. The injuries were permanent.

What followed was not the response the U.S. government's intelligence and security apparatus is supposed to deliver. There was no public protest. No retaliation. No diplomatic consequence. Instead, the U.S. government publicly denied that the incident had occurred. Internal records were sealed. The two officers — one American, one Canadian — were left to absorb the consequences of an act of war in silence. For nearly three decades, the official position of the United States was that nothing happened on April 4, 1997.

Blind Treason is the firsthand account of that day, the cover-up that followed, and the cost of telling the truth about what powerful institutions wanted to forget. Drawing on declassified records, court filings, internal communications, and the author's own memory of what he watched unfold from inside Naval Intelligence, Daly reconstructs the attack and the betrayal that followed.

The book is timely. Russian intelligence operations against U.S. and allied targets have escalated in the years since 1997. The pattern Daly documents — act of war, denial, cover-up, retaliation against the officer who refuses to disappear — has not changed. What has changed is that the 25-year declassification window has closed, and Daly is now free to tell the story he could not tell while he served.

With a foreword by Bill Gertz, the Washington Times national security columnist who has covered Russian and Chinese intelligence operations for four decades, Blind Treason will appeal to readers of Edward Snowden's Permanent Record, Daniel Ellsberg's Secrets, and Tim Weiner's Legacy of Ashes — and to fans of military thrillers by Tom Clancy, Vince Flynn, and Brad Thor who have never read a story like this one because the story is true.