News

Read about the developing story of the Ukraine document leaks and any potential charges under the Espionage Act.

Russians boasted that just 1% of fake social profiles are caught, leak shows

‘A little kid trying to be important’: locals react to Pentagon leak suspect

Graham “stunned” alleged Pentagon leaker had access to classified intel

The key question – why allow such a low level soldier to have high-level clearance?

Assignment

Carry over the assignment from last class.

News

Dozens of Australian politicians urge US to abandon Julian Assange extradition

Assignment

We will finish the discussion from last class and then look at Chapter 41.  I am supplementing the material on the Pentagon Papers case. This is an important legal case, which left some questions open that have not yet been answered. It was also a key political case and is the model for subsequent attempts by government employees to influence policy through leaking classified government documents. The leaker, Daniel Ellsberg, was not a hippie peacenik, but a Marine officer and respected theoretician on game theory in war.  As Nixon fought the disclosures and attempted to discredit Ellsburg, he authorized a burglary of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office to collect incriminating information. This derailed Ellsberg’s criminal prosecution and resulted in the dismissal of the charges against him. (The Attorney General himself ended up in jail for crimes related to Watergate and Nixon’s election campaigns.)  Remember, that this was a period when the press self-censored and the idea of a major newspaper publishing this type of leak was unheard of. The paper’s outside lawyers refused to advise it and told the editor to send back the papers and not look at them. Think about the different world we live in now.

Who was Daniel Ellsberg?

Pentagon Papers/Ellsberg Timeline – Drawboard

The Pentagon Papers: The View From The Oval Office

The Post | Official Trailer

This is Speilberg’s movie about the Pentagon Papers. You do not have to watch it for class, but it is great viewing and mostly accurate. Watch the trailer. The case riveted the public as it played out.

The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers

This is a documentary. Watch the trailer.

Read Chapter 41, the supplement, and this addendum to the supplement.

Slides – Chapter 41 – revised

News

Pentagon investigating how Ukraine war document marked top-secret appeared online

NBC News: U.S. officials believe ‘leaked’ U.S. classified documents about Ukraine war strength may be real.

Reuters: China simulates striking Taiwan on second day of drills.

Assignment

We are going to read Chapters 39 and 41 next, which deal with classified information. Counting this class, we have 4 classes left. The additional materials we cover will depend on how much time we spend on these chapters.

Read Chapter 39, the supplement, and this addendum to the supplement.

Slides – Chapter 39 – final

Read these annotated materials for discussion:

The President Executive Order 13526 _ National Archives

SF312 Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement

Espionage Act

Resources

Classification EO – full text

Security Clearances – Personnel Security Standards and Procedures Governing Eligibility for Access to Sensitive Compartmented Information

Appealing a Denial or Revocation of a Clearance

Department of Justice Guide to the Freedom of Information Act – Exemption 1

Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement (SF312)

SF 312 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS CLASSIFIED INFORMATION NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENT

Update – The exam will have only multiple-choice questions. (Some questions will only have 2 choices – true/false.)

I have posted some study questions on Moodle so you can get a sense of the types of questions that will be on the exam. These are sample questions and are not meant to be comprehensive. The slides and presentation materials are a good review of the key information in the course when you are preparing for the exam. If any questions depend on detailed information about a statute or regulation, the statute or regulation will be provided as part of the exam materials. You need to know the names of major cases to the extent that you can answer questions that refer to the case, such as, In the Doe case, the court held that National Security Letters were constitutional. T/F

The exam is in class, closed book, using Exam4. The exam questions will be on paper – it is not embedded in the software. If this is a problem for you, you should talk to Assoc. Dean Henry for any necessary accommodation.

If you feel any of the multiple-choice questions are problematic, you may add a section to your exam in the Exam4 software to list the question number, your answer, and your comments for each problematic question. I read these before the exams are graded and exclude any questions that I agree are problematic.

Exam Q & A – I will post questions from students and my answers on this page to assure that any important information is available to all students. The most recent questions will be posted at the top.