Legal Definitions - Espionage Act

The Espionage Act is a federal law in the United States designed to protect national security by criminalizing acts of spying, unauthorized disclosure of classified information, and other activities that could harm the country's defense or foreign relations. Originally enacted in 1917 during World War I, its primary purpose is to prevent individuals from obtaining, possessing, or transmitting national defense information with the intent or reasonable belief that it could be used to injure the United States or benefit a foreign nation. It also prohibits actions that interfere with military operations, recruitment, or cause insubordination within the armed forces, particularly during times of war or national emergency.

Here are some examples of how the Espionage Act might apply:

• Unauthorized Disclosure of Classified Information: An intelligence analyst, employed by the government, becomes disillusioned with a particular foreign policy initiative. Without authorization, they secretly copy highly classified documents detailing sensitive intelligence operations and leak them to a foreign news outlet, believing the public has a right to know. This action could be prosecuted under the Espionage Act because it involves the unauthorized transmission of national defense information that could harm U.S. interests or aid a foreign entity.

• Aiding a Foreign Adversary: An engineer working for a private defense contractor, with access to advanced weapons designs, is approached by an agent from a rival nation. The engineer secretly provides detailed blueprints and specifications for a new stealth aircraft in exchange for a large sum of money. This act of providing national defense information to a foreign power's advantage, especially with intent to harm the U.S., falls squarely under the provisions of the Espionage Act.

• Interference with Military Operations or Recruitment: During a period when the United States is actively engaged in a declared military conflict, an individual creates and widely distributes a sophisticated disinformation campaign online. The campaign uses fabricated stories and manipulated images to falsely claim that military recruiters are intentionally misleading potential enlistees about the dangers of service, with the specific goal of discouraging people from joining the armed forces. If proven that this was done with the willful intent to obstruct national recruitment activities during wartime, it could be considered a violation of the Espionage Act.