The Espionage Act: Continuity And Change Over Time

The Cold War brought out the suspicious side of the American population. Our government had fired or forced resignations of thousands of government employees. The Justice Department had begun prosecuting eleven leaders of the Communist Party, who were later convicted and imprisoned. Two trials became the center of attention, one against former State Department official Ager Hiss and another against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Americans were fearing that communist spies

Government censorship continued with the passing of the Espionage Act in 1917 and the Sedition Amendment in 1918. The Espionage Act and Sedition Amendment condemned any antiwar activity or desecrating of the government, Constitution, flag, or military. The American public could not have an opinion, unless that opinion supported the war and government. Even Wilson stated, "Woe be to the man or group of men that seeks to stand in our way." Government censorship and “unpatriotic acts”, as deemed by the Espionage Act and Sedition Amendment, gave birth to a suspicious nation.

The first red scare of the united states paved the way for a long lasting fear of communism and proved to be one of america's longest lasting period of hysteria (Shield52710Cane. | Bartleby. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2017.)The “ Red Scare” is similar to the salem witch trials in a sense that many people were only being accused of being an anarchist without any actual proof, it was just one person's words against another person's words.This was a theme that dominated America during the 1920s. During this era many Americans were fearful of expressing views that were not in sync with the government’s perspective if they attempted to the capitol creates methods that inhibit the citizens ability to voice any opposing views. Most of the time, when controversial opinions were spoken, the punishments put in place were not worthy of the crime, and often time the person being accused would be

The main reason for this legislation was to keep the United States isolated from the rest of the world, which many Americans believed would keep us safe from an attack on America. Americans were so afraid of a threat to the country, the United States disregarded one of its most beloved Amendments of the Constitution, the First which gives citizens the freedom of speech.

The NSA has been proven to be spying on United States citizens without proof of those citizens being labeled as a threat to the United States or anyone. Just like in the book 1984 by George Orwell, the government was spying on their citizens for no reason. There are many similarities between the book 1984 and the NSA. Many individuals either succeeded or tried to show the terrible things that their government was doing. The NSA has been known in the past to protect the United States but since Edward Snowden exposed the NSA the United States citizens put less trust in their government in fear their rights will be taken away.

Today, electronic surveillance remains one of the most effective tools the United States has to protect against foreign powers and groups seeking to inflict harm on the nation, but it does not go without a few possessing a few negative aspects either. Electronic surveillance of foreign intelligence has likely saved the lives of many innocent people through prevention of potential acts of aggression towards the United States. There are many pros to the actions authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) pertaining to electronic surveillance, but there are also cons. Looking at both the pros and cons of electronic surveillance is important in understanding the overall effectiveness of FISA. [1]

After the Espionage Act, came the Sedition Act in 1918. The Sedition Act did not allow language “tending to incite, provoke, and encourage resistance to the United States in said war”. This Act infringed further on people’s First Amendment rights. Individuals’ abilities to express themselves were curtailed. One of the people that went against this Act was Joseph Abrams. Abrams was a Russian immigrant who did not agree with the Americans invading Russia. Because of this,

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 was a necessary measure signed by President Jimmy Carter in an effort to stop the CIA, FBI, NSA, and other executive powers from conducting warrantless wiretaps of domestic groups for so-called national security purposes. This was necessary because findings by the Church Committee in the early 1970s suggested that warrantless wiretapping had been going on for quite some time by these government entities and was exacerbated by President Nixon and the Watergate scandal. This bill not only set a future precedent for how surveillance should be conducted, but also attempted to set a standard for what “good” and “bad” surveillance were defined as. FISA did not face any substantial challenges

This act very blatantly restricted freedom of expression but was passed anyways. This is because judicial review was still very new and the Congress that passed it was mostly federalist and John Adam the president at the time was also a federalist. These laws were meant to suppress Republican opposition of the laws passed by the congress regarding immigrants. When Thomas Jefferson became president the laws were no longer used And remained that way until later wars. In 1917 during WWI this law was brought back in the form of the Espionage Act which was also referred to as the Sedition Act. The main purpose of this law was to supersede existing espionage laws and weren't much different from them but it went a step further it deemed a criminal anyone who, "when the United States is at war, shall willfully make or convey false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies and whoever when the United States is at war, shall willfully cause or attempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or shall willfully obstruct the recruiting or

Before World War One, people were allowed to watch, write, or say anything they wanted to as long as they weren’t harming anyone. However, the Republicans and Democrats were arguing over whether or not we should have more censorship. The Democrats wanted more censorship, but Republicans didn’t want more censorship. As it was stated in document 1, they didn’t want the president to be able to block himself from getting criticism. The Espionage and Sedition Acts were put in place so that people couldn’t interfere with the success of the army, it was to help find people who were disloyal to the army.

Government censorship continued with the passing of the Espionage Act in 1917 and the Sedition Amendment in 1918. The Espionage Act and Sedition Amendment condemned any antiwar activity or desecrating of the government, Constitution, flag, or military. The American public were almost at a point where they could not have an opinion, unless in support of the war and government. Even Wilson stated, "Woe be to the man or group of men that seeks to stand in our way." These acts of censorship gave birth to a suspicious nation.

Around this time, Americans feared the invasion of Communism, which triggered the FBI to investigate people within the U.S. whom were suspected of sabotage and undermining Democracy in the name of Communism.

In reference to the research question “To what extent did the Red Scare create a pseudo “reign of terror” in the United States, ” authors Wendy Wall and Alexander Stafford provide adequate information about the affects of the red scare on society. Wall goes into a detailed description the Federal Loyalty-Security Program and the House Un-American Activities Committees. Both of these programs set up by the government were a form of oppression to the American citizens, inquiring personal information that should have not been public information. The Federal Loyalty-Security Program put regulations on employment agencies and required employers to take loyalty oaths. This can be seen as a violation of the constitution, as it oppresses one’s personal points of view and violates their right to freedom of speech. The House Un-American Activities Committees (HUAC) questioned workers of film in Hollywood and blacklisted those who were seen as untrustworthy. Those blacklisted thus had a difficult time finding employment.

“Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made”.This quote is said by Otto von Bismarck.I agree with this because the government make laws that will make people happy or mad because they do not think that the law will apply to them.Some people like to have a say in when the government is making the laws.People just like to see the laws, but they really do not know how they really are made and how long it takes for the laws to get passed.Some people time all it takes is a month for it to pass but it take longer.But I am not sure how took back then then to pass these laws that U.S. might have.They laws that I will be telling out about are from World War.The Espionage Act: punished anyone found guilty of helping the enemy, hindering recruitment, or inciting revolt.The Sedition Act: prohibited any speech that was disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive.Trading with the Enemy Act: the postmaster general gained the power to censor any publications exchange with other countries.Some of these laws might seem harsh or not harsh enough. However it depends on how you take look at the acts to see if they were actually helpful or not helpful to the U.S.The Espionage Act, Sedition Act and Trading with the Enemy Act was too harsh or not harsh enough.

There are two important major reforms that the U.S. established, the Economic Espionage Act (EEA) of 1996 and the Theft of Trade Secrets Act of 2012. The U.S. established the EEA of 1996 to protect companies with industrial espionage, theft of trade secrets, fraud, transfer of custody, and penalties on offenses(ECONOMIC ESPIONAGE ACT OF 1996). “The EEA of 1996 is an act that makes theft or misappropriation of trade secrets a federal crime” (LaMance). Activities that are punishable under the EEA of 1996 if the person: