Biography
Mark Kenney, an Omaha Catholic Worker and former Navy sailor, served separate federal prison terms for nonviolent protests at Offutt and Whiteman Air Force Bases. His 2010 Offutt trespass case resulted in a February 25, 2011 six-month sentence and April 27 admission at Duluth. A distinct April 15, 2012 anti-drone action at Whiteman resulted in a four-month term. His own prison writing links him to federal register 14018-047; the official locator records his latest federal custody departure November 16, 2012.
Photo and separate custody phases verified October 13, 2026: The original Nuclear Resister report explicitly captions the unaltered photograph as Mark Kenney before the August 9, 2010 action. The completed sentencing account confirms February 25, 2011 and the Nagasaki Day action date; the retrospective note beside his own prison writing confirms April 27 admission and register 14018-047. NCR's 2012 interview distinguishes the two terms, and co-defendant Brian Terrell's account documents April 15, 2012 arrest. The official locator gives November 16, 2012 for that same register. Conflicting press ages do not override the direct register bridge; no birth date is inferred. Exact 2011 release and executed 2012 admission remain unresolved. Photograph: Nuclear Resister archive, photographer not identified in the source caption.
Executed admission review October 13, 2026: The original Nuclear Resister issue 167, page 2, rendered and visually inspected, explicitly reports that Kenney surrendered at the federal prison in Duluth on July 18, 2012 to serve his four-month trespass sentence. This retrospectively confirms execution of the planned surrender discussed in the earlier review, and July 18 is now recorded as actual admission for the 2012 Whiteman case only. His separate 2011 Offutt admission and unresolved discharge are unchanged. June 6 is explicitly identified as a guilty plea; an exact sentencing day is not separately established here. The existing November 16 federal endpoint and identified photograph are retained.
The issue reports that Mark Kenney pleaded guilty to unlawful entry on June 6, 2012, in the Whiteman Air Force Base protest prosecution, and identifies Federal Judge Matt Whitworth at the sentencing hearing. It separately confirms his actual July 18 surrender at the Duluth federal prison to begin the four-month imposed term.
The February 27, 2011 report identifies Federal Magistrate Judge Thomas D. Thalken as accepting Mark Kenney’s guilty plea and imposing the February 25 six-month sentence for the preceding August 9 Offutt action. Kenney was permitted to surrender later; the projected four-to-six-week interval does not replace the independently documented April 27 admission. The judge also described earlier Offutt terms of thirty days, forty-five days and two six-month sentences. These undated prior episodes are not added as separate cases or summed into a lifetime custody total.
Jane Stoever’s contemporary account individually names this participant among four people arrested after crossing onto the site of the new Kansas City nuclear-weapons-parts plant on April 14, 2012. It reports their release on $100 bonds within a few hours and a then-planned May 15 municipal trespass hearing. Contemporary source.
The same account names Mark Kenney, Brian Terrell and Ron Faust as the three people arrested at Whiteman Air Force Base on April 15, 2012. They were led to a gym for processing and rejoined the supporters within seventy-five minutes with federal statements charging trespass. This initial processing was separate from the later court proceedings. Contemporary source.
The National Catholic Reporter interview reproduced on April 29, 2011 describes Kenney’s enlistment in the Navy nuclear-propulsion program in 1977 and his later opposition to nuclear weapons after serving aboard a nuclear submarine. Its April 27 dateline describes his reporting to Duluth Federal Prison Camp for an imposed six-month Offutt protest term, calling it his third imprisonment for protests at that base. The photograph caption and excerpt disagree about the August action day; no change to the separately documented arrest date follows.
Sources: The Nuclear Resister, report 896.
