{"id":175653,"date":"2020-12-28T12:01:16","date_gmt":"2020-12-28T12:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=175653"},"modified":"2020-12-28T09:41:08","modified_gmt":"2020-12-28T09:41:08","slug":"i-am-guilty-of-violating-the-espionage-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2020\/12\/i-am-guilty-of-violating-the-espionage-act\/","title":{"rendered":"I Am Guilty of Violating the Espionage Act"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Justice Department is setting a dangerous precedent that threatens reporters \u2014 and the truth. Journalism is not a crime!
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Laura Poitras: AP Images
Edward Snowden: Courtesy, The Guardian<\/p><\/div>\n

21 Dec 2020 – <\/em>I am guilty of violating the Espionage Act, Title 18, U.S. Code Sections 793 and 798. If charged and convicted, I could spend the rest of my life in prison.<\/p>\n

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This is not a hypothetical. Right now, the United States government is prosecuting a publisher under the Espionage Act. The case could set a precedent that would put me and countless other journalists in danger.<\/p>\n

I confess that I \u2014 alongside journalists at The Guardian, The Washington Post<\/em> and other news organizations \u2014 reported on and published highly classified documents from the National Security Agency provided by the whistle-blower Edward Snowden, revealing the government\u2019s global mass surveillance programs<\/a>. This reporting was widely recognized as a public service<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Espionage Act<\/a> defines the unauthorized possession or publication of \u201cnational defense\u201d or classified information as a felony. The law was originally enacted during World War I to prosecute \u201cspies and saboteurs.\u201d It does not allow for a public interest defense, which means a jury is barred from taking into account the difference between a whistle-blower exposing government crimes to the press, and a spy selling state secrets to a foreign government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n