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In article . net, Tankfixer
wrote:

Look up the example of the classified history of the CIA's involvement in
the Iranian coup in the 1950s. Short story: the classified document was
leaked and put on the web. The government did nothing.

Depends who leaks it I supose.. ;')

Not really. Publishing classified material is not illegal in the United
States, with a finite exception--the names of covert intelligence officers
currently based overseas. This is based upon long precedent and the belief
in the United States that a functioning democracy requires a free press that
can publish information that the government does not want released.

It's a little more complicated for leaking classified information to the
press. In general, that's not actually illegal--99.999% of people who do it
get an administrative punishment (i.e. they get fired, fined, or lose their
security clearance). They don't go to jail. Only one person has gone to
jail for this, Samuel Loring Morrison, back in the 1980s. There is
currently a case before the courts where the government is trying to convict
two people for accepting classified information and making if public.
Whether they will be convicted of that is an open question.

Put it this way:

Person A, a govt. employee, gives classified information to a foreign govt.
He goes to jail for espionage.

Person B, a govt. employee, gives classified information to a newspaper and
gets caught. He gets fired or given an administrative punishment. It is
highly unlikely that he will go to jail. (And it is worth remembering that
top level officials leak classified information all the time. People in the
White House leak information to newspapers to make the White House look
better. That's how the game is played in Washington.)

The newspaper publishes classified information. Nothing happens to them.


If you're interested in learning about the subject, go to the FAS website
and read multiple issues of Secrecy and Government Bulletin. You'll get a
sense of the limitations concerning the press and classified information.

I may give them a look.

Read up on the AIPAC case.



D