When, if ever, is it ethical for any U.S. citizen to willfully disclose classified information to the American public?

Benjamin M. Fulanovich Jose M. Maqueda Timothy A. Dyck Zachary Harvey Colin T. Auxier James V. Siana Jacob A. Salinas Amy C. Ardito Nicholas J. Ardito Christopher T. Ospring

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CST373 - Assignment #3
Team-led seminar and eDebate. Ellsberg/Manning/Snowden: When Americans Leak things about America.

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The problem Highly sensitive classified matters have been negligently disclosed throughout U.S. history. These incidents have seriously compromised government security, and yet have opened up many issues of awarenesssome of which might have been better left unknown. The Pandora's box of controversial issues have accelerated the role of the press, the peoples right to know, and how public opinion has been daunted by such rude awakenings. Daniel Ellsberg, Bradley Manning, and Edward Snowden are among the more recent considered scoundrels in the public eye that have leaked classified information that was not meant for public audience. The fine line balance between national security and information privacy comes full throttle into question when such matters can be maliciously misinterpreted. In Edward Snowdens case, the betraying decision to disclose the nation's classified secrets he obtained while working with the NSA to foreign governments is not only unpatriotic, but also disrespectfully unethical. Obviously, this puts the security and integrity of the United States of America at serious risk. Historical/Legal Context In 1971 a series of publications from the New York Times became known as the Pentagon Papers. These papers detailed a long history of government connected secret invasions, bombings, and deliberate lies that had occurred since the 50s. Daniel Ellsberg, a military analyst, became known as "the most dangerous man in America" when he divulged these documents. He was charged with theft and espionage but his case was ultimately thrown out when it became known that the prosecution had been using illegal wiretaps during their prosecution proceedings against Ellsberg (Green, 2013). In 1986, a Leak first published by a Lebanese magazine showed that weapons had been sold by the U.S. to the Iranian government. At the time the U.S. Government was imposing an embargo on the country of Iran. In order to get around this embargo a Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North helped create a scheme where the arms were sold to Israel for 12 Million dollars, who then in turn sold them to Iran for up to 20 million dollars more. The profits were then transferred to a Swiss bank account, and access to those funds was discreetly arranged for the Contra rebels, an alliance of Nicaraguan freedom fighters. At the time the U.S. was congressionally banned from supporting the Contra rebels financially or otherwise, but the U.S. in fact was indirectly responsible for the Contra groups financial and military training and tactical success. The Reagan administration denied these allegations for several weeks, and finally admitted U.S. involvement; this led to a great decrease in public approval ratings (Green, 2013).

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Those who leak classified information violate the law and put the nation at risk. Their transgression must be punished if we are to preserve the rule of law. Our laws are poorly designed to deal with this complex reality. One of these laws penalizes theft of government property, another bars federal employees from removing classified documents from authorized locations, and the other unequivocally bars the disclosure of classified codes. Some such laws carry penalties that seem more fitting for disclosures that are rooted in negligence or poor judgment. Obamas Justice Department, however, has generally treated them simply as add-ons to Espionage Act charges. The Obama administrations strategically weapon of choice in its crusade against national security leaks has been to inherently rely upon the U.S. Espionage Act established during the World War I era. That statute, which criminalizes certain disclosures of national defense information, was enacted to address traitors and spies (Goitein, 2013). The Espionage Act defines that: Whoever knowingly and willfully communicates, furnishes, transmits, or otherwise makes available to an unauthorized person, or publishes, or uses in any manner prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States or for the benefit of any foreign government to the detriment of the United States any classified information (Cornell University Law School, 2013, para. 1) There are several significant penalties for breaking these laws that pertain to national security also defined in that same act such as, "The knowing and willful disclosure of certain classified information is punishable under 18 U.S.C. Section 798 by fine and/or imprisonment for not more than 10 years" (Elsea, 2013, p. 14, para. 3) The ultimate punishment for leaking information may even result in the death penalty. The laws of these United States poorly define the appropriate ways of dealing with the vast complex varieties of infractions involving classified information leaks as opposed to the realities of outright espionage. It is speculated by many that defining between the two sometimes tends to unfortunately become witch hunts by overzealous government agents.

Stake Holders The potentially harmful changes that affect all levels of American society, and the stability of this country's wellbeing is subject to manipulation by major corporations or government agencies that manage to attain and use classified information. Existential leaking of such information; either by deliberate recruitment of professional infiltrators, or by independent agents of espionage usually has detrimental repercussions. One common example of major players in the business of unethical breaching of public privacy occurs when companies sell software to

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governments in order to track the citizens (Hackers News Bulletin, 2013).Major corporations such as Google have been affected by leaks released by the U.S. Government that has been spying on many citizens for one reason or another. Because of how the NSA, and government agencies have been spying on citizens by accessing Google's data collection, Google has decided to encrypt all its information in all its databases around the world. This action was instilled mostly because the privacy breach created huge backlash from its users. Google users naturally don't want all their rights to privacy infringed by government intrudersthe right to remain anonymous while exploring and interacting with all that the internet has to offer is everyone's desired right to be free. As our government imposes the gall of spying on its citizens mistrust of such corporations like Google and others that have also been affected such as Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Facebook are worried that less active government fearing internet users can lead to less supporting sponsorships. With hopes to maintain the trust of their users and alleviate losing them these businesses are looking to encrypt their information (Timberg, 2013). In an article posted by Tech Dirt.com, journalist Mike Masnick discusses how the government has finagled its way into the databases of private businesses, and according to Masnick, "the NSA and GCHQ have effectively backdoored (sic) their way into breaking various encryption schemes by writing the standards themselves and recruiting internal spies within companies to covertly inject backdoors." This allows the government to spy on people, and possible targets it deems to be even the slightest iota of a government security threat. The people that are involved with such powers who are creating these backdoors not only pose a threat for U.S. citizens, but can also lead to major problems concerning government's around the world who are also using such backdoors. Such vulnerabilities can unfortunately lever purposes of abuse as is iterated by a Pro Publica article which states that, "The potential for abuse of such extraordinary capabilities for surveillance, including for political purposes, is considerable" (TechDirt.com, 2013). This leads to and somewhat answers the questions asked; as to how would such backdoors be used, and why the leak of such information could very well be harmful or even incriminating for citizens and businesses that are involved in such matters. The leakage of private and/or classified information leads to the public's distrust of governments or corporations who unethically claim the power to abuse the access they have to such pertinent data. The infamous 'WikiLeaks' act of ethical ignorance perpetrated by Private Bradley Manning who revealed classified U.S. Government information is discussed by Andrea Germanos, staff writer for Common Dreams.com who brings out a point of journalistic ethics. Now known as Chelsea Manning who recently made a presidential pardon request regarding her persecution supports her defense that whistle-blowing is actually helping out Democracy. Germanos quotes Norman Solomon a co-writer for Common Dreams.com who writes, 'As a practical matter,

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real journalism cant function without whistleblowers. Democracy cant function without real journalism. And we cant stop the warfare state without democracy. In the long run, the struggles for peace and democracy are one and the same'" (Germanos, 2013). Yes, it is certainly difficult to withhold a rally of support for the long standing right to free speech that 'We the People' so dearly embrace. Journalistic whistleblower's however, are what most people would say, more often in-it-for-the-money, and along with the motivation for literary fame recognition, too often report first and validate the source and anticipate the potentially detrimental outcome later.

Competitive Analysis If public is interested in the proper way to acquire information about government issues it is legitimately attainable at http://www.foia.gov/ through the freedom of information act. Anyone can request information about a specific topic, and this government monitored online search system can provide most requests. It takes a while, but all the information you receive is presumably 100% true and accurate, and is assured not to be detrimental to our country in any way. News sources are most often eager to obtain any important leaks they can, and publish them with little or no consequential consideration. Although, the press will sometimes question the veracity of sensitive information being offered, and refrain from publicizing it, a determined activist wont usually give up so easy. He inevitably ends up turning over whatever damaging findings he may have to a spill-the-beans-website like WikiLeaks who without concern will jump at the chance to publish that information on the worldwide web for all to see. American and non-American's sometimes tend to presumably rely on many news sources for accurate information about what's going on in the world. The most common sources guilty of factual inconsistency are television and radio broadcasting systems. The predominant leader of controversy reporting is CNN which has links throughout the world news industry, and all of its TV and internet presence is considered renown worldwidefew doubt their credibility. On the internet there are discussion boards, like Reddit, a popular source where a wide range of government and other sensitive issues are reviewed, not only on a national scale, but on a worldwide scale as well. Reddit's disadvantage comes as less of a surprise because its followers are mostly males between the ages of 18 and 30. Under this circumstance insufficient arguments of female interjection are considered while the variety of subjects during discussions are explored (PEW Research Center, 2013). The participants on Reddit are primarily within a younger age range of males with similar ideas which limits rallying rebuttals from women, because there are an insufficient amount of female participants. But there are at

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least open awareness discussions going on about whether or not the government is looking out for this country's current and future better interests. It may be necessary that the people not know everything our government does as it hopefully serves to maintain the integrity of our nation's overall stance as a free country. People inevitably lose trust in the government because of corporate manipulations, sensationalism, and inaccurate reports about important information released by the news media. For the most part it helps the general concept of maintaining a secure nation by keeping classified information under a safe shield, and also better assures the sanctions of peaceful diplomatic relations. Economic Factors Edward Snowden, a man more recently getting worldwide attention seems to also be a popular human commodity receiving offers of political asylum from several countries. Snowden was discovered to be revealing information about the NSA (National Security Administration) spying on other countries. Negotiations between the U.S. and some countries have begun to fall apart as repercussions of Snowdens leaks have also created economic stress and hindered foreign relations. For example, The President of France has put the U.S./European global economy trade deal on hold, until further questions have been answered regarding just how leaked information by Snowden may affect overall security between our two nations. Its absurd that Snowden has received any offers of asylum, never mind multiple offers; David Francis of the Fiscal Times reported that, 'Ecuador a country thought to be considering offering Snowden asylum withdrew from talks, saying they feared blackmail if they refused to offer up the fugitive.'" (Francis, 2013, para. 14). When decision makers make statements that emphasize 'blackmail' it's obvious they know the issues that could possibly instigate unwanted sanctions of economic strains. Francis also highlights a stern iteration that stated, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) refused to back down, warning Ecuador, Your economy will pay a very big price. We should end all foreign aid, repeal trade agreements worth billions of dollars (Francis, 2013, para. 15). Of course Ecuador should fear that the United States might boycott importing goods from their country because they harbored a perpetrator of the ultimate crime; spying and treason against the U.S.. On the other hand, news of Venezuela offering Snowden asylum comes as no surprise, because it's common knowledge that the country's newest leader by default, Nicolas Maduro, listens to the foolish advice of administrators who were under the influence of its former President Hugo Chavez. Chavez's long lived campaign to convert Venezuela to communism lead to a great deal of corruption,

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and his spiteful resistance to maintain trade relations with the U.S. has continued to be contagiously upheld by Maduro as the current puppet leader in power. Alliances with Germany have long been a bit fragile, but the economic advantages of trade relations between the two countries has helped to alleviate most concerns over world war hindsight grudges. In the same article on the possibilities that Snowden's act of treason could cause the derailing of global economy Francis included this opinion from Joerg Wolf, editor of the Berlin-based open think tank atlantic-community.org , Whatever U.S. public diplomacy achieved in Germany in the last four years [since George W. Bushs presidency ended], its gone, atlanticcommunity.orgs Wolf said. Any positive impact President Obamas trip to Berlin two weeks ago have had, its gone'"(Francis, 2013, para. 18). Germany is considered to be one of the more powerful world nations that the U.S. must ally with, and Snowden's preposterous leak's may have seriously jeopardized the economic well-being of billions of citizens, both in the U.S. and in Germany. For his blatant disregard he deserves no less than the maximum sentence for an act of treason if he can ever be apprehended. Tom Gjelten of NPR (National Public Radio) reported "'It wouldn't surprise me, it would be very rational, for foreign companies or individuals to just decide to try and avoid American cyberspace where they can,' says the Atlantic Council's Healey. Stiennon, the tech industry analyst, echoes that concern. 'Russia and China years ago stopped using Microsoft in their governments and military,' he points out. 'What if that starts to spread around the world?'" (Gjelten, 2013, para. 13) Imagine the repercussions of sacrificing the use of cyberspace technologies and all the advantages the world has gained from its use. This all seems like adversarial sabotage when a wrench like Snowden falls into the gears of man's technological advancement potential. Everyone's scope on economy progress will be hindered with stifled foresight if mankind doesn't get a better handle on its cyberspace doors and the pirates who break them down. Technological Factors There are several specialized aspects that affect this situation, for instance, when the U.S. Constitution was written, individuals had little or no voice against the government. Bring about substantial changes required the support of many people, which in turn also to some extent implemented a check/balance monitor in and of itself. Now that we have telephones, email, and social media, we are subject to technological situations that the authors of the constitution did not anticipate. Prevalent and immediate access to information regarding individuals as well as groups has led to the problems which have incurred from the tampered access of unauthorized information. Tape recording, typing, copying, digital files, cameras,

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and the internet are all technological advances that have conceived a vulnerable atmosphere of shared information. This networking of data has also empowered the citizens to fight wrongdoing and alert others of issues that impact not only themselves, but others as well. An advantage now considered as a form of free speech advocacy for millions of people it is now easier to access and share classified information that requires little effort, and is executed with the click of a mouse. It is common to simply send out a tweet or a Facebook post that has the potential to reach millions of users. A lot of sensitive information circulates the world-wide-web without ever being verified; this type of information can go viral, with very few users questioning the validity of the message. Our nation is vulnerable to would-be enemies who have quick access to compromised information; leakers are mere drops in the bucket in relativity information once hacked, can and does in many cases speedily impact our national security.

Recommendations In order to prevent further breaching of classified information the law must be more efficiently enforced regarding such matters. There seems to be far too many ways that legal system loopholes damage the core of its purpose to serve our essential need for personal privacy and national security. People who leak classified information, are without a doubt ignoring a serious law that vitally serves many aspects of this countries need to maintain important security measures. Anyone who breaks that law needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent. In order to ensure these laws are continuously upheld there shouldn't be an assumption that our NSA (National Security Agency) practices need not be continuously monitored. It is imperative that security features and procedures be put into place which will ensure that employees who have access to classified information, are held accountable at all times. There also needs to be stricter monitoring of all employees that have access to highly sensitive information. New laws and regulations need to be written, on how the NSA conducts its business. We need to revisit the laws that are in place, because technology has changed the way that people can access and share information. The new laws need to reflect this change in technology.

Pros and Cons There are many different ways of attempting to prevent data from being publicly leakedencryption, authentication, high security clearances, are but a few ways to keep the information confidential. That said, for every vulnerability safeguarded there is an alternative blindside; which becomes a constant battle between security and information usability. When implementing security such as encryption, you're

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making the data unusable to whoever obtains it, but at the same time those who are authorized to use the data are also being impacted. Overall, acquiring encrypted data is not the threat to the organization, the unencrypted information is. Presenting another security threat, which depends on how well security practices are followed by those who can access the data unencrypted.

Most of the leakers that are compelled to disregard it as an act of treason find that they must then flee to other countries. The U.S. turn warrant the tedious and sometimes costly proceedings of extradition. If the individual is charged with treason, then because the two charges for treason are death, or life in prison; countries with no concerns over security compromises against the United States may not wish to extradite someone to be executed. It would most likely be a safe assumption to believe that opposing extradition demands may also in some instances simply be a matter of exercising spiteful power-plays against the U.S. The majority of the leaks are not due to bad security infrastructure. Security leaks are usually perpetrated by those that have high security clearance. That said, it's hard to find out how to stop someone from leaking information when in many cases they have the highest clearance possible, within the organization (Ruppin, 2013). Similar to what was mentioned earlier it is very difficult to make sure that classified information is not leaked to the public, for example in Snowdens case, he fled to China which is something that at the time was very unexpected as well as impossible to predict, for he had passed all the necessary clearance examinations expected of someone in such a high security position.

Concluding Arguments Despite the fact that people in general want to be aware of U.S. government affairs; a two-inch-binder, and then some, of reported issues condoning most political agendas would support the contrary. Throughout the ages a certain amount of overall ignorance about government matters has proven the average people are better remain oblivious. Civilizations have fallen from disrespect of leaders who were chosen for their intelligence over others. They that know not what more they can do other than complain can't handle the truth. We live in a different time and age, and the wars we are fighting are not just against other countries, but are against unseen terrorists who will do whatever they can to hurt America. Conspiracies to discredit our government issues need to be

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promptly addressed, and reprimanded by legal proceedings. Releasing classified information can be quite harmful to the United States, and whistle-blowers are not privy to the big picture, and all the different facets of a sensitive government situations. Handling these issues in the proper way helps to ensure National security. Our government has a system in place to deal with constitutional issues. Any suspected abuse of anyone's rights, including government leaders who are challenged, should be thoroughly examined by due legal process. If everyone just took the law into their own hands it would severely weaken this country's ability to function as a respected land of the free. Of course its a breach of individual privacy and constitutional rights for the NSA to tap into emails and phones of Americans. And yes, our government often keeps truths from us... people feel as though the government wont take responsibility for their actions and the citizens have a right to know. Most will complain that we can't trust our own government when concerns arise about how they are spying on us, and imposing upon our rights. Yet, there is a bigger picture that is unseen and taken for grantedmany instances of harmful attacks on our country's integrity might otherwise go unresolved. If the NSA is able to thwart a terrorist attack by tapping into phones and emails of people who may want to do harm to America, then it is justified. Allowing citizens to disobey by our laws creates a breakdown of society, and the information being leaked has the potential to make the USA an even bigger target due to the perception that its citizens are being harmed by our own government. There are suitable ways and means that can be implemented which can best resolve both sides of the issues over public access to government business, and concerns of citizen privacy breaching. The NSA needs to answer to government legal protocol as well as anyone else, and should be consistently be investigated and held accountable. Continuous over viewing of new and updated regulations need to be regularly administered, and put in place. Leaking sensitive information doesn't just unmask seemingly unethical governmental tactics; exposing government strategies can, will, and does also damage relations with foreign countries. For the most part, our government leaders make educated decisions as they have had to develop strategies that work for the betterment of our country's best interests.

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References Cornell University Law School. (2013, Sept.) Retrieved from http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/798 Elsea, Jennifer. (2013, Sept.) " Criminal Prohibitions on the Publication of Classified Defense Information." Retrieved from http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/secrecy/R41404.pdf FOIA.gov. (2013, Sept.) "United States Department of Justice Public Access Information." Retrieved from http://www.foia.gov/ Francis, David. (2013, July 2) "How Edward Snowden Could Derail the Global Economy." Retrieved from http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2013/07/02/How-Edward-Snowden-CouldDerail-the-Global-Economy Germanos, Andrea. (2013, Sept. 3) "Chelsea Manning Files Presidential Pardon Request." Retrieved from https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/09/03-6 Gjelten, Tom. (2013, June 21) "NSA Leak Could Be Bad Business For U.S. Tech Companies." Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/06/21/194330376/NSA-LeakCould-Be-Bad-Business-For-U-S-Tech-Companies Goitein, Elizabeth. (2013, June 12) "Our Antiquated Laws Cant Cope With National Security Leaks." Retrieved from http://ideas.time.com/2013/06/12/our-antiquatedlaws-cant-cope-with-national-security-leaks/#ixzz2eq41TmVR Green, Matthew. (2013, Aug. 1) "Ten Government Leaks that Rocked the Boat." Retrieved from http://blogs.kqed.org/lowdown/2013/08/01/ten-of-the-mostinfluential-government-leaks-in-u-s-history/ Hackers News Bulletin. (2013, Sept.) "New Wikileaks docs show, how Surveillance Industry providing spying software to governments to track their citizens." Retrieved from http://hackersnewsbulletin.com/2013/09/wikileaks-documentshows-surveillance-industry-providing-spying-software-governments-trackcitizens.html PEW Research Center. (2013, July. 3) "6% of Online Adults are reddit Users." Retrieved from http://pewinternet.org/~/media/Files/Reports/2013/PIP_reddit_usage_2013.pdf

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Ruppin, Adi. (2013, Sept.) "Data Loss Prevention Solutions Fail To Stop Information Leaks." Retrieved from http://www.ciozone.com/index.php/EnterpriseSoftware/Data-Loss-Prevention-Solutions-Fail-To-Stop-Information-Leaks.html TechDirt.com. (2013, Sept.) "Feds Beg NY Times, Pro Publica Not To Reveal That They've Inserted Backdoors Into Internet Encryption." Retrieved from http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130905/12484624418/feds-beg-ny-times-propublica-not-to-reveal-that-theyve-inserted-backdoors-into-internetencryption.shtml Timberg, Craig. (2013, Sept. 6) "Google encrypts data amid backlash against NSA spying." Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/google-encrypts-data-amidbacklash-against-nsa-spying/2013/09/06/9acc3c20-1722-11e3-a2ecb47e45e6f8ef_story.html