A review of Ralph Engelman and Carey Shenkman, “A Century of Repression: The Espionage Act and Freedom of the Press” (University of Illinois Press, 2022).
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The unfettered flow of information via a free press is essential to the workings of American democracy. Without an understanding of what the government is doing in its name, the public is deprived of an essential prerequisite for sound choice at the ballot box. But at the same time, in the conduct of statecraft, American democracy has a compelling need to protect its diplomatic and military secrets. When those secrets are illicitly disclosed to the press, providing critical intelligence to the nation’s enemies, the public interest is ill served. In a democracy, openness and secrecy are in profound tension with one another.
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