FLASHBACK 2017: Congressional Research Service- Criminal Prohibitions on Leaks and Other Disclosures of Classified Defense Information →

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🔷’U.S.C. Section 641 punishes the theft or conversion of government property or records for one’s own use or the use of another. Violators may be fined, imprisoned for not more than 10 years, or both, unless the value of the property does not exceed the sum of $100, in which case the maximum prison term is one year. The statute also covers knowing receipt or retention of stolen or converted property with the intent to convert it to the recipient’s own use.’
🔷‘Section 793(f) of the Espionage Act is unique in that it punishes the loss or removal of national defense information resulting from “gross negligence.” This standard has been described in other contexts as “the failure to exercise even a slight degree of care.”’
🔷’The Intelligence Identities Protection Act, 50 U.S.C. Section 3121, provides for the protection of information concerning the identity of covert intelligence agents. It generally covers persons authorized to know the identity of such agents or who learn the identity of covert agents as a result of their general access to classified information, but can also apply to a person who learns of the identity of a covert agent through a “pattern of activities intended to identify and expose covert agents” and discloses the identity to any individual not authorized to access classified information with reason to believe that such disclosures would impair U.S. foreign intelligence efforts… To be convicted, a violator must have knowledge that the information identifies a covert agent whose identity the United States is taking affirmative measures to conceal.’
🔷’18 U.S.C. Section 1924 prohibits the unauthorized removal of classified material by government employees, contractors, and consultants who come into possession of the material by virtue of their employment by the government. The provision imposes a fine of up to $1,000 and a prison term of up to one year for offenders who knowingly remove material classified pursuant to government regulations concerning the national defense or foreign relations of the United States, with the intent of retaining the materials at an unauthorized location.’
🔷’50 U.S.C. Section 783 penalizes government officers or employees who, without proper authority, communicate classified information to a person who the employee has reason to suspect is an agent or representative of a foreign government.’
🔷’The Atomic Energy Act of 1954, 42 U.S.C. Section 2274, prohibits disclosure of information relating to nuclear energy and weapons. The act creates criminal penalties for anyone who “communicates, transmits, or discloses” documents or information “involving or incorporating Restricted Data” with the “intent to injure the United States” or advantage a foreign nation, or who has “reason to believe such data” would have that effect.’
🔷’U.S.C. Section 952 punishes employees of the United States who, without authorization, willfully publish or furnish to another any official diplomatic code or material prepared in such a code by imposing a fine, a prison sentence (up to 10 years), or both… The removal of classified material concerning foreign relations with the intent to store it at an unauthorized location is a misdemeanor under 18 U.S.C. Section 1924, which also applies only to U.S. government employees.’