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Espionage Act of 1917

The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law enacted on June 15, 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. It was originally found in Title 50 of the U.S. Code (War & National Defense) but is now found under Title 18 (Crime & Criminal Procedure). Specifically, it is 18 U.S.C. ch. 37 (18 U.S.C. § 792 et seq.).

Long title

An Act to punish acts of interference with the foreign relations, and the foreign commerce of the United States, to punish espionage, and better to enforce the criminal laws of the United States, and for other purposes.

the 65th United States Congress

June 15, 1917

Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 65–24

40 Stat. 217

It was intended to prohibit interference with military operations or recruitment, to prevent insubordination in the military, and to prevent the support of United States enemies during wartime. In 1919, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously ruled through Schenck v. United States that the act did not violate the freedom of speech of those convicted under its provisions. The constitutionality of the law, its relationship to free speech, and the meaning of its language have been contested in court ever since.


Among those charged with offenses under the Act are Austrian-American socialist congressman and newspaper editor Victor L. Berger, labor leader and five-time Socialist Party of America candidate, Eugene V. Debs, anarchists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman, former Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society president Joseph Franklin Rutherford, communists Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, Cablegate whistleblower Chelsea Manning, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Defense Intelligence Agency employee Henry Kyle Frese, National Security Agency (NSA) contractor whistleblower Edward Snowden. Rutherford's conviction was overturned on appeal.[1] Although the most controversial sections of the Act, a set of amendments commonly called the Sedition Act of 1918, were repealed on December 13, 1920, the original Espionage Act was left intact.[2] Between 1921 and 1923, Presidents Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge released all those convicted under the Sedition and Espionage Acts.[3]

To convey information with the intent to interfere with the operation or success of the or to promote its enemies' success. This was punishable by death or imprisonment for not more than 30 years or both.

armed forces of the United States

To convey false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies when the United States is at war, to cause or attempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or to willfully obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States. This was punishable by a maximum fine of $10,000 or by imprisonment for not more than 20 years or both.

a former CIA officer was indicted under the Act in January 2011 for alleged unauthorized disclosure of national defense information to James Risen, a reporter for The New York Times, in 2003. Risen published the leaked material in his 2006 book State of War, which revealed details about the CIA's covert spy war with Iran. Risen refused to reveal the source of his information when subpoenaed twice by the Justice Department. The indictment stated that Sterling's motive was revenge for the CIA's refusal to allow him to publish his memoirs and its refusal to settle his racial discrimination lawsuit against the Agency.[97]

Jeffrey Alexander Sterling

– In April 2010, Thomas Andrews Drake, an official with the NSA, was indicted under 18 U.S.C. § 793(e) for alleged willful retention of national defense information. The case arose from investigations into his communications with Siobhan Gorman of The Baltimore Sun and Diane Roark of the House Intelligence Committee as part of his attempt to blow the whistle on several issues, including the NSA's Trailblazer project.[98][99][100][101][102][103] Considering the prosecution of Drake, investigative journalist Jane Mayer wrote: "Because reporters often retain unauthorized defense documents, Drake's conviction would establish a legal precedent making it possible to prosecute journalists as spies."[104]

Thomas Andrews Drake

– In May 2010, Shamai K. Leibowitz, a translator for the FBI, admitted sharing information with a blogger and pleaded guilty under 18 U.S.C. § 798(a)(3) to one count of disclosure of classified information. As part of a plea bargain, he was sentenced to 20 months in prison.[105][106]

Shamai Leibowitz

– In August 2010, Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, a contractor for the State Department and a specialist in nuclear proliferation, was indicted under 18 U.S.C. § 793(d) for alleged disclosure in June 2009 of national defense information to reporter James Rosen of Fox News Channel, related to North Korea's plans to test a nuclear weapon.[107][108][109]

Stephen Jin-Woo Kim

(2023). The New Deal's War on the Bill of Rights: The Untold Story of FDR's Concentration Camps, Censorship, and Mass Surveillance (First ed.). Oakland: Independent Institute. pp. 4–7. ISBN 978-1598133561.

Beito, David T.

Chafee, Zechariah (1920). . New York : Harcourt, Brace and Howe.

Freedom of speech

Kohn, Stephen M. American Political Prisoners: Prosecutions under the Espionage and Sedition Acts. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1994.

Murphy, Paul L. World War I and the Origin of Civil Liberties in the United States. New York: , 1979.

W. W. Norton & Company

Peterson, H.C., and . Opponents of War, 1917-1918. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1957.

Gilbert C. Fite

Preston, William Jr. Aliens and Dissenters: Federal Suppression of Radicals, 1903-1933 2nd ed. Urbana: , 1994.

University of Illinois Press

Rabban, David M. Free Speech in Its Forgotten Years. New York: , 1997.

Cambridge University Press

Scheiber, Harry N. The Wilson Administration and Civil Liberties 1917-1921. Ithaca: , 1960.

Cornell University Press

Thomas, William H. Jr. Unsafe for Democracy: World War I and the U.S. Justice Department's Covert Campaign to Suppress Dissent. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2008.

Strauss, Lon: , in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.

Social Conflict and Control, Protest and Repression (USA)

Brown, Charlene Fletcher: , in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.

Palmer Raids

Thomas, William H.: , in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.

Bureau of Investigation

NYTimes, 2022 (nytimes.com)

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