The charges against AIPAC lobbyists for spying have been dropped. I’m no fan of AIPAC, but I think this was the right call. Jerry Markon reports:
Rosen and Weissman were charged in 2005 with conspiring to obtain classified information and pass it to journalists and the Israeli government. They were the first non-government civilians charged under the 1917 espionage statute with verbally receiving and transmitting national defense information.
Some lawyers and First Amendment advocates have said the case would criminalize the type of information exchange that is common among journalists, lobbyists and think-tank analysts.
As a note of disclosure, I am a think-tank analyst, but I’ve never dealt with classified information. Closest I’ve come is For Official Use Only (FOUO) material and business sensitive stuff. I think on the whole I’m happier that way. Regardless, these guys didn’t have clearances and if you’re doing normal espionage you don’t pass it on to journalists. Moreover, I think journalists should at times receive go digging for classified information because some things are declared secret because their embarrassing.
In other good news, the Obama administration lost a ruling where they were attempting to invoke the states secret doctrine. In essence, they were continuing a Bush era policy of rejecting suits because they would involve disclosure of classified information. I do think that certain information shouldn’t come out to the public in lawsuits, but there’s ways to protect secrets without deny the judicial branch a chance to review the case.
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