ENEMY OF THE STATE

This feature for a Globe and Mail supplement focuses on the trial of David Hudak, an explosives expert who was facing 50 years in U.S. federal prison for training foreign nationals without the proper clearances from the State Department. Hudak first established his explosive-tech business in his hometown of Vancouver, but he later moved his operations to Roswell, New Mexico. Hudak had trained U.S. military on a contract basis and brought retired American military onto his payroll. One of those vets faced some of the same charges as Hudak and quickly made a deal with the DOJ, pleading guilty for a reduced sentence and committing to testify against his former boss. Hudak was held without bail for 18 months. For this story I covered the trial over weeks in Albuquerque, embedding with Hudak's defence team, and spent days in his base of operations in Roswell and environs. The story was nominated for a Canadian National Magazine Award (NMA) for political writing.