Although free speech is a Constitutional right, it does have
limits—especially when it concerns national security. The actions of Julian
Assange, Chelsea Manning, and Edward Snowden, for this reason, are treasonous.
Despite my hope for a truly transparent government, I think that these people
very obviously violated the trust our government invested in them.
First of all, the point that the information was sensitive
enough to cause major consequences for the US is one that I will not argue. The
information has obviously not been of great importance, or we would have
already been threatened. I also say this because even Secretary of Defense
Robert Gates describes it as having only “modest” consequenses, says Gabriel
Schoenfeld’s opinion article in the Wall Street Journal. For these reasons, I
concede that it was not as dangerous an act as some make it out to be.
However, the actions of these people are still treasonous
and deserving of some degree of punishment. Though they may have released
information as a movement for free speech, it was not the right thing to do.
There are other ways to hold our government accountable. These men and women
could have sought a way to make our government more transparent on more
diplomatic terms.
A relatively recent representation of such wrongful action
took place at the Wisconsin Capitol this past June when protesters refused to
obtain necessary permits to gather in large groups. It is the perfect example
of something that has (possibly) positive implications, but is wrongfully
executed. (See related article here)
The final piece to this puzzle is that it can be easily
argued that Assange, Manning and Snowden acted out of “bad faith.” As much as
they were trying to “do good” for society, they were deliberately hurting our
government’s integrity. Schoenfeld’s article touches on the comparison of
Assange’s WikiLeaks and controversial newspapers, saying that prosecutors have
not touched newspapers because they don’t edge this border of “bad faith.”
For these reasons, Assange, Manning and Snowden are not
martyrs, nor are they deserving of fame; they are simply individuals who
deliberately breached the faith of our government. Their causes may be noble,
but their actions very obviously not.
