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In 2009, DeHart found an alarming file that had been uploaded to his server. It probably was supposed to be encrypted but it opened without a password. He believes it was destined for WikiLeaks, the whistleblowing organization. WikiLeaks itself refers to DeHart as an “alleged WikiLeaks middleman.”

At the time of the Post’s investigation, DeHart declined to detail the contents of the files saying only that “it was an FBI investigation into the CIA’s (Central Intelligence Agency’s) practices.”

In his lawsuit, he alleges the files “implicated a federal agency in criminal activity against United States citizens, as well as documented apparent malfeasance by American and multinational companies.”

At the same time as his online activism, DeHart was a member of the U.S. Air National Guard, part of a drone team where he had access to top-secret information.

DeHart says his two seemingly incompatible worlds — cocky Internet freedom fighter and military operator with security clearance — made him a target of U.S. national security agents. After his house was searched and his computer equipment seized, he visited the Russian embassy and discussed defecting to Russia.

He was later arrested by U.S. border agents when he was trying to enrol in college in Canada.

While detained for days in 2010 he was interrogated by the FBI about Anonymous, his computer equipment, his drone team and other national security matters — without making a court appearance, which would be the normal routine. While in custody, DeHart claims he was given unknown drugs against his will, deprived of sleep, food and water and left naked in solitary confinement.