ABSTRACT
One category of betrayal merits special attention— treason. The issues of power, morality, and boundaries in this particular category are critically important and are also very problematic. Treason consists of a behavior that is presumed to have betrayed trust and breached faith and that presents debated loyalties. The issue, of course, is not as simple as it may appear because establishing an act of treason requires an a priori act of establishing a relationship of trust and loyalty. There are a few works that focus on treason in the United States. Bakeless's 1998 work focuses on espionage in the American Revolution, O'Toole's 1991 work targets the history of American intelligence, espionage, and covert action from the days of the American Revolution to 1962. Treason implies violating one's commitment, trust, and loyalty to a particular symbolic moral universe characterizing a collective. This violation is conceptualized as an almost universal "crime" and is severely punished by most cultures.
