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This chapter traces how threats against the press, enabled by the Espionage Act, significantly accelerate under the Obama administration. An unprecedented number of government officials are prosecuted for disclosures to journalists, including Thomas Drake, Stephen Kim, Jeffrey Sterling, and John Kiriakou. These prosecutions of leaks implicate journalists as well. James Rosen of Fox News is accused of being a suspected “aider, abettor and/or co-conspirator” in the Espionage Act prosecution of Kim. James Risen of the New York Times engages in a seven-year legal battle to resist a subpoena to testify in the prosecution of Sterling. AP reporters also discover government wiretaps of their phones, prompting a crisis between the administration and the press.

This chapter traces the evolution of the Espionage Act during World War II from the perspective of attorney general and civil libertarian Francis Biddle. Biddle struggles to stave off Hoover's efforts to use the act to intimidate the Black press, and Roosevelt's desire to deploy the law against a newspaper perceived as a political enemy. Hoover, who targeted Black publishers during World War I, insists again on using the act to criminalize protest against racism. Biddle is forced into painful negotiations with John Sengstacke, publisher of the Chicago Defender. FDR also targets his archnemesis, Robert McCormick, publisher of the Chicago Tribune, for the publication of a military secret. These efforts set the stage for the act's increased use in the future.