Biography
Bruce K. Gagnon is a Vietnam-era Air Force veteran and peace organizer. He co-founded and coordinates the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space and has organized against military space programs, nuclear weapons, drones, and war-industry subsidies for more than four decades. He lives in Maine and is also active with Veterans for Peace. Gagnon was arrested and released after a March 27, 2026 peace witness at the Pentagon.
The Veterans For Peace newsletter individually names Dan Ellis, Dud Hendrick, Bruce Gagnon and Richard Lethem among people arrested at Bath Iron Works in June 2019. It reports that obstruction-of-a-public-right-of-way charges were reduced to jaywalking. No exact day, prison admission, discharge or completed custody duration is established. Veterans For Peace, Winter 2020 newsletter, original PDF page 13. Source: https://www.veteransforpeace.org/files/7715/8336/6388/FinalWinter2020_1.pdf#page=13
The June 22, 2019 Bath Iron Works report names Bruce Gagnon among the people arrested for obstructing a public way during the USS Daniel Inouye christening protest. Its updated media advisory individually lists nine people who declined bail and were held at Two Bridges Regional Jail, and states that they were released on June 24. Bruce Gagnon is one of those nine. The initial police account gives a different aggregate jail count of ten; no unidentified tenth detainee is assigned an individual custody record. The scheduled August 6 court appearance was prospective in this source. This named June 22–24 custody episode is separate from earlier protest imprisonments, and later independently documented charge reductions are preserved.
Bruce Gagnon’s February 26, 2012 account individually names Bruce Gagnon among activists arrested after entering the Jeju naval-base construction site beneath razor wire. The report describes subsequent detention at two police stations and further arrests during a solidarity vigil. It says many activists were released that night, without specifying every individual’s release or station assignment. This attributed overseas protest context does not establish a new custody duration or an arrest ordered by U.S. authorities.
The Nuclear Resister, February 26, 2012, account by Bruce Gagnon.
The June 18, 2016 report and reproduced Bangor Daily News account individually name Bruce Gagnon among twelve people arrested outside Bath Iron Works during a naval destroyer christening. The police account reports cooperative arrests, fingerprinting and booking for Class E misdemeanor obstructing a public way. Booking does not independently establish jail admission; no physical release date or completed custody duration is supplied. Contemporary report, The Nuclear Resister.
In his first-person March 8, 2016 account, Bruce Gagnon describes being one of seven people handcuffed at Beale Air Force Base at about7:15a.m., taken inside for processing, cited for trespassing on a federal installation and released about ninety minutes later. Base processing does not establish a jail admission or a complete day in prison. Contemporary participant report, The Nuclear Resister.
The contemporary report individually names this participant among those arrested at Hancock Air Base on April 28, 2013 after the anti-drone funeral procession. Its follow-up specifically includes this person in the twenty-one-person arraignment list. The report names Benack, Gideon and Jokl collectively as the judges and gives a range of bail amounts; it does not assign one judge or bail amount to each listed individual. In his accompanying first-person account, Gagnon describes spending the night in the county jail, approximately eleven hours in handcuffs, a $1,500 bail assessment, and difficulty obtaining water and bathroom access. Contemporary source.
The April 1, 2017 Bath Iron Works report names Bruce Gagnon, Natasha Mayers and Mark Roman among nine people arrested while blocking the warship christening entrance, charged with Class E criminal trespass, booked at Bath police station and released on $60 bail. The article does not establish a jail-admission interval or a later trial outcome. Contemporary report, The Nuclear Resister.
The January 17, 2015 Bangor action report individually names Gagnon among three later protesters removed from the roadway by Washington State Patrol and cited for being in the roadway illegally. It identifies him as coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space and the event’s keynote speaker. The report establishes a citation, not an extended jail stay.
Sources: The Nuclear Resister report 504.
The February 21, 2007 Tom Allen office sit-in report individually names Bruce Gagnon among those arrested. He refused bail and was jailed for two days before pleading not guilty; the charges were later dismissed at Allen’s request.
Sources: The Nuclear Resister, No.146.
