A contractor accused of leaking classified information engaged in "thievery, not protected speech," and has no First Amendment grounds to challenge his Espionage Act prosecutions, the Justice Department said in an Alexandria federal court filing.
Former intelligence analyst Daniel Hale shared National Security Agency details of drone warfare with the website The Intercept, according to an indictment filed in May. His defense attorneys argued last month that the law was designed to deal with spies, not leakers, and that the prosecution runs afoul of the First Amendment by chilling news gathering and implicating the reporter who received the information.
It's an argument that probably will resurface if Julian Assange, facing prosecution in the same courthouse for publishing classified information, is ever extradited. The government rarely prosecuted leakers until President Barack Obama's tenure, and the Trump administration is the first president to prosecute the publisher of classified information along with the leaker.
Prosecutors pushed back in their own motion Monday, saying Hale signed non-disclosure agreements that made the law clear.
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[ 18 U.S. Code § 798. Disclosure of classified information ]
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1 comment:
The Justice Department is right. Those who have legal access to classified information and whisper their contents to others are violating their contracts and the law. Those who don't have legal access to classified information but are in receipt of it are also criminals.
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