He's the best kind of modern criminal - a patriot and one who put his own skin in the game.

Any TTPs his work revealed were already known to Russia, China, Iran et al all the way down to the weird-beard who manages the Taliban's 56k modem.

But they were not known to most American voters. Nor to voters of allied democracies.

The Espionage Act 1917 is unworthy of America, and blatantly infringes on the First Ammendment while hiding behind "National Security".

The "National Security" "exception" to the Bill of Rights was invented by the Eisenhower Administration in 1948, to protect a donor against liability for the rubbish aircraft they make.

The SCOTUS should strike them down together. I'm almost disappointed that Assange's plea bargain removed a golden opportunity to do just that.

Reply to this note

Please Login to reply.

Discussion

Assange is not American, so he is not classified as a traitor. The threat to national security in the USA and the risk of attacks do not classify him as a traitor. If someone is not an American citizen and does not understand the importance of protecting classified information that could harm national security interests, they would not be considered a traitor.

Assange _was_, in fact, charged under your Espionage Act, I'm afraid.

Your Constitution contains America's very specific legal definition of treason. Baking that into the Constitution was a very prudent move by your Founders who had seen their previous government make every form of dissent and whistleblowing into treason.

Julian Assange, while not an American citizen and not formally classified as a traitor, has been accused of crimes related to the dissemination of classified information. In the United States, the distribution of classified information can be viewed as a threat to national security, but this does not equate to being classified as a traitor under U.S. law. The term "traitor" typically refers to actions that directly harm the state or aid an enemy power, and Assange's situation is not categorized as such.