Necessary Secrets: National Security, the Media, and the Rule of Law

An intensely controversial scrutiny of American democracy’s fundamental tension between the competing imperatives of security and openness. “Leaking”—the unauthorized disclosure to the press of secret information—is a well-established part of the U.S. government’s normal functioning. Gabriel Schoenfeld examines history and legal precedent to argue that leaks of highly classified national-security secrets have reached hitherto unthinkable extremes, with dangerous potential for post-9/11 America.