He posted a very high res photograph of the base on his blog, I saw it on Reddit and I'm sure its floating around still. Basically taking aerial reconnaissance photographs of an active military base, not hard to understand why he got raided.
> Taking an unauthorized picture of a defense installation (such as a military base) is a federal misdemeanor offense—on par with hunting or fishing in a wildlife refuge. It carries with it a punishment of a $1,000 fine and up to a year in jail.
If he was getting a little too invasive then why not warn him first or charge him for the above?
I'm guessing he posted some public images pushing the limits, pissed off the feds who wanted more than a small fine, and they built up some narrative about spying which they sold to a judge for a warrant. Then they didn't find any evidence they were fishing for and left the case open.
He denies that he was the one who took the photos in question …
Usually, self reporting of innocence isn't given much weight. Perhaps that's what they were trying to verify?
IANAL, but perhaps one could give some insight into 18 USC 795 and 18 USC 797.