How the Espionage Act morphed into a dangerous tool used to prosecute sources and threaten journalists

The Espionage Act is a draconian statute used to stifle press freedom for decades. 

America's 'Official Secrets Act' — the long, sad history of the 100 year-old Espionage Act

The Espionage Act is used to prosecute whistleblowers and threaten journalists. This is its history. 

Statement on Trump allegedly telling Comey to jail reporters for publishing classified information

Trump allegedly urged Comey to imprison journalists who publish classified information. This is a grave threat to press freedom. 

We targeted a SecureDrop ad at potential whistleblowers in the Trump administration. You can too.

Any news organization can run a Twitter or Facebook ad targeting Trump administration employees for whistleblowing.

US officials have no problem leaking classified information about surveillance—as long as it fits their narrative

In the past few days there have been a flurry of stories about the Russian plane that crashed in the Sinai peninsula, which investigators reportedly think may have been caused …

US officials leak information about the ISIS raid that’s more sensitive than anything Snowden ever leaked

Over the weekend, the US government announced that special forces soldiers entered Syria to conduct a raid that killed an alleged leader of ISIS, Abu Sayyaf. In the process, anonymous …

David Petraeus receives no jail time for leaking, while whistleblowers face decades in jail

Former CIA director David Petraeus received his sentence today for the sweetheart plea deal he struck with the Justice Department after he was discovered to have leaked highly classified information …

The James Risen case and Eric Holder's tarnished press freedom legacy

Attorney General Holder raised some eyebrows yesterday when answering a question about his Justice Department’s notorious crackdown on leaks, and by extension the press, most notably saying this about its …

Government tries to implicate CIA whistleblower in leak case with calls to CIA’s house reporter

We're republishing Marcy Wheeler's coverage of the trial of CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling. The following post first appeared at ExposeFacts. The FBI Special Agent who investigated the Merlin leak, …