Espionage Act Reform Act of 2020

Espionage Act Reform Act of 2020

This bill limits the scope of certain criminal offenses relating to classified information.

Under the bill, the offense of disclosing classified information to an unauthorized person may be committed only by an individual who is authorized to receive the classified information and has signed a nondisclosure agreement regarding such classified information (i.e., a covered person), whereas under current law any individual may be charged with this offense. Under the bill, this offense shall not apply to disclosures of information to any Member of Congress, a federal court, an inspector general in the intelligence community, or certain bodies such as the Federal Trade Commission.

Similarly, under the bill, certain offenses related to gathering, transmitting, or losing defense information may be committed only by a covered person or a foreign agent, whereas currently such offenses may be committed by any person. Under the bill, an individual who is not a foreign agent may not be criminally charged for such offenses unless the individual meets certain requirements, such as having committed a felony under federal law in the course of committing the offense.

An offense related to obtaining and copying a document connected with the national defense shall apply only to an unlawfully obtained nonpublic document, whereas the current statute does not limit the scope of this offense to such documents.

An offense related to dispensing certain public property of value shall apply only to tangible things, whereas the current statute does not limit the scope of this offense to tangible things.