From the judge in that case, with which I’m inclined to agree: “You are not being prosecuted for speaking out about the drone program killing innocent people,” said O’Grady. “You could have been a whistleblower … without taking any of these documents.”
That punishment was for sharing documents classified as top secret with a journalist, not for calling out a deviation.
That is a possibility, but certainly not definitive. The fact is that he did choose that his odds were better this way, and he accepted the consequences of his actions.
i don't think orally delivering classified information instead of using electronic/paper copy magically makes it not a crime. All that while decreasing the trustworthiness of the information - ie. from journalist POV it would be dealing with hearsay instead of documented facts.
>That punishment was for sharing documents classified as top secret with a journalist, not for calling out a deviation.
yep, and for jaywalking. Assange was hunted down for sex crimes (which as it happens he didn't commit) not for publishing the docs. And Navalny in Russia is doing time for business crimes not for being PITA for Putin.
This is a tried and true method of governments. If you piss them badly enough, they'll move Heaven and Earth to find something they can legally get you for.
(That is, as long as they care about being seen following their own rules. If they don't, then all bets are off.)
That punishment was for sharing documents classified as top secret with a journalist, not for calling out a deviation.