The U.S. Air Force tried last week to make the case that its military and civilian personnel, as well as their family members, cannot legally access the classified documents published by WikiLeaks on home computers. To do so, stated a policy directive, would constitute a violation of the Espionage Act—a legal interpretation described as extreme by government anti-secrecy advocates.

 

Until now, most of the federal government has told government workers and military members to avoid reading the WikiLeaks documents obtained from the State Department, arguing that the information is still considered classified despite its publication on the Web.

 

But on February 3, the Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base went a step further, claiming the leaked diplomatic cables were protected by the Espionage Act and that accessing them under any circumstances was against the law. Furthermore, the order stipulated: “If a family member of an Air Force employee accesses WikiLeaks on a home computer, the family member may be subject to prosecution for espionage under U.S. Code Title 18 Section 793.”

 

Steven Aftergood, who heads the Federation of American Scientists’ Project on Government Secrecy, said the Air Force’s legal position was “breathtaking” and went “far beyond any previous reading of the espionage statutes.”

 

“That has to be one of the worst policy/legal interpretations I have seen in my entire career,” William J. Bosanko, director of the National Archives’ Information Security Oversight Office, told Aftergood.

 

The public airing of the legal opinion did not last long. On February 7, the AFMC removed it from its website, pending further review of the statutes it was based on.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Accessing WikiLeaks Violates Espionage Act, USAF Says (by Steven Aftergood, Secrecy News)

Command Offers WikiLeaks Guidance (U.S. Air Force)

No U.S. Law against WikiLeaks Publishing Diplomatic Cables (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Federal Workers, Contractors, Soldiers and Some Students Warned not to Read WikiLeaks Cables (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)