Is Obama abusing the Espionage Act?
The Obama administration has charged twice as many people under the Espionage Act as every other president combined
![Espionage Act](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/yBoBtyU5kiNz4q5qrbXKxP-415-80.jpg)
NSA leaker Edward Snowden has officially been charged with three felonies, two of them falling under the 1917 Espionage Act, including "willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorized person." If convicted, he could face decades or even life in prison.
The Obama administration has now charged seven people under the Espionage Act. Prior to Obama's inauguration, only three people had ever been charged under that law.
As Glenn Greenwald puts it in The Guardian, "the statute is so broad that even the U.S. government has largely refrained from using it" in the past. It was passed two months after the United States entered World War I with the stated aim of preventing people from sharing classified information about national defense, although, as the Brookings Institution's Benjamin Wittes tells NPR, the wording is much more vague than that:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
We think about the Espionage Act as forbidding disclosures of classified information. That's not really what the statute says. What the statute talks about is information related to the national defense. And so, you know, I think if you were to go take pictures of ships at Pearl Harbor, that is not classified information, but it arguably is information related to the national defense.
On the other hand, if you imagine a highly classified diplomatic cable that's sensitive for reasons having nothing to do with national defense, it's classified for other reasons. And so I think you do have this weird mismatch under the Espionage Act. The categories don't really line up very well with the modern classification system. [NPR]
Charles Pierce uses harsher words to describe it in Esquire, calling the Espionage Act a "foul relic of a foul time, born of the repressive mind of Woodrow Wilson, American history's most overrated man, employed to quash dissent during World War I, and then repurposed for the Red Scare that followed hard on the Armistice, and it rose again during the subsequent Red Scares after the subsequent world war."
The Espionage Act is often associated with the much-maligned Sedition Act, passed one year later, which more or less made it illegal to criticize the U.S. government. While the Sedition Act was repealed in 1920, the Espionage Act has survived in amended form. Before Obama, it was used to charge Daniel Ellsberg, leaker of the Pentagon Papers, under President Nixon; Samuel Morrison under President Reagan; and Lawrence Franklin under President George W. Bush.
The next seven — Thomas Drake, Shamai Leibowitz, Stephen Kim, Jeffrey Sterling, John Kiriakou, Bradley Manning, and Edward Snowden — were all charged on Obama's watch. And it's mainly political, argues Greenwald:
It's a completely one-sided and manipulative abuse of secrecy laws. It's all designed to ensure that the only information we as citizens can learn is what they want us to learn because it makes them look good. The only leaks they're interested in severely punishing are those that undermine them politically. The "enemy" they're seeking to keep ignorant with selective and excessive leak prosecutions are not The Terrorists or The Chinese Communists. It's the American people. [The Guardian]
The Justice Department has defended its actions, claiming that it "does not target whistle-blowers."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
It remains unclear if Snowden will even stand trial. He is reportedly seeking asylum in Ecuador.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Keith Wagstaff is a staff writer at TheWeek.com covering politics and current events. He has previously written for such publications as TIME, Details, VICE, and the Village Voice.
-
Ukraine's Olympians: going for gold in the line of fire
Under the Radar Hundreds of the country's athletes have died in battle, while those who remain deal with the psychological toll of war and prospect of Russian competitors
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Democrats now have a chance to present a vigorous, compelling case'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
What has Kamala Harris done as vice president?
In Depth It's not uncommon for the second-in-command to struggle to prove themselves in a role largely defined by behind-the-scenes work
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Biden, Trump urge calm after assassination attempt
Speed Reads A 20-year-old gunman grazed Trump's ear and fatally shot a rally attendee on Saturday
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Supreme Court rejects challenge to CFPB
Speed Read The court rejected a conservative-backed challenge to the way the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is funded
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published