Take Action
Your Day of Reckoning
Step 1 — Find Your Senators and Representative
Step 2 — What to Say
Step 3 — A Letter You Can Adapt
Subject: Twenty-nine years of institutional silence — please act
Dear Senator [Name] (or Representative [Name]):
I am a constituent in [city, state]. I am writing because I have just finished reading Blind Treason by Jack Daly, a retired U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander and Naval Intelligence officer. The book documents an April 4, 1997 directed-energy attack by a Russian merchant vessel against a U.S.–Canadian surveillance helicopter in U.S. airspace, the injuries sustained by the two-man crew, the documented forensic evidence of intelligence-image manipulation, and the institutional silence that has held for nearly thirty years.
The Department of Defense Inspector General has determined that LCDR Daly is eligible for the Purple Heart. The Navy has refused to award it. The Canadian helicopter pilot, Captain Patrick Barnes (RCAF), died on April 15, 2026, still suffering the laser injury he sustained that day.
I am asking you to use your office to demand the following:
- A written explanation from the United States Navy of why the DoD IG finding has not been honored;
- A public accounting from the United States government of the April 4, 1997 incident and its cover-up;
- Congressional oversight, through the Senate Armed Services Committee or the House Armed Services Committee, of why this matter has been allowed to remain unaddressed for nearly three decades.
Captain Barnes is gone. LCDR Daly is still here, still carrying the wound. The record is open. The silence is not acceptable.
I appreciate your service and your attention to this matter. I would welcome a response.
Respectfully,
[Your name]
[City, state]
[Date]