ABSTRACT
One might label the summer of 2013 “the summer of the whistleblower.” During this eventful season unauthorized leaks of classifi ed information led to fresh questions about the meaning of the United States as a nation, the possible overreach of presidential power, and the changing role of the military in a time of perpetual war. On June 3, 2013, Bradley Manning’s court martial trial began. Among other violations, the court charged Manning with violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), including espionage and “aiding the enemy,” by leaking military documents (to WikiLeaks), undermining effi cacy of the War on Terror. In late May 2013, a National Security Agency contract worker, Edward Snowden, leaked information to the press about a governmental surveillance program. In his initial statement, Snowden remarked, “I will be satisfi ed if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant” (as cited in Greenwald, MacAskill, & Poltras, 2013).
