The Espionage Act of 1917

Two months after the United States entered the First World War, Congress passed the Espionage Act, signed by President Woodrow Wilson on June 15, 1917. It made it a crime to gather or pass on information about national defense with intent or reason to believe it would be used to injure the United States or help a foreign nation, and to interfere with military recruitment or encourage insubordination. Amendments in 1918, known as the Sedition Act, punished disloyal speech and were repealed in 1920, but the core of the law remains in force at 18 U.S.C. 792 to 799.

The law was used against war critics, including the socialist leader Eugene Debs, whose conviction the Supreme Court upheld in 1919, and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted under it in 1951 of passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. Since the 1970s it has become the main law used against people who leak classified information, because Section 793 punishes unauthorized retention or disclosure of national defense information without proof of intent to help a foreign power, and it allows no defense that the disclosure served the public interest. Daniel Ellsberg was charged over the Pentagon Papers in 1971, a case dismissed in 1973 for government misconduct. Later defendants include Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, and an Air National Guard member who posted secret documents online and pleaded guilty in 2024. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange pleaded guilty to one count in June 2024 and was freed.

Charges brought in 2023 against a former President for keeping classified documents after leaving office were dismissed in July 2024 on the ground that the special counsel had been unlawfully appointed, and the appeal was dropped after that year's election. Press freedom groups and members of both parties have argued that the law treats leaks to journalists like spying for an enemy and should allow a public interest defense, and reform bills have been introduced repeatedly without passing. Supporters say strict penalties protect intelligence sources and military plans and that officials with concerns should use the legal whistleblower channels. Critics also note that senior officials who mishandle secrets are rarely charged under it.