Petraeus, Cartwright, Sterling, Kiriakou, Manning, Snowden-these are military and civilian officials who, admittedly, reportedly, or as revealed after conviction in a court of law, provided classified information to those without requisite security clearances or a need to know. Recipients included lovers, journalists, and-perhaps directly or eventually-foreign intelligence services. Former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director David Petraeus paid a fine, and he remains on probation. Jeffrey Sterling, a former midlevel CIA officer, was prosecuted and sentenced to prison. With regard to the case of former Marine Gen. James Cartwright, the information that would have been needed to be released in support of a court proceeding was, reportedly, deemed too sensitive. While critics have suggested nefarious motivations for this variance in prosecution, this is not the first time our leaders have struggled with how far to go in prosecuting espionage.
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