Publishing Classified Information

People believe there is a blanket statute prohibiting anyone, including news media, from publishing classified information. There is not.

To help its Congressional clients better understand the laws regulating the disclosure and publication of lawfully classified national security information, the Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service (CRS), has published a 26-page report entitled Protection of National Security Information.

The Summary of the June 30, 2006, CRS report notes, "This report provides background with respect to previous legislative efforts to criminalize the unauthorized disclosure of classified information; describes the current state of the laws that potentially apply, including criminal and civil penalties that can be imposed on violators; and some of the disciplinary actions and procedures available to the agencies of the federal government that have been addressed by the Federal courts. Finally, the report considers the possible First Amendment implications of applying the Espionage Act to prosecute newspapers for publishing classified national defense information."