Event: FBI Raids Washington Post Reporter, Experts React

Last month, FBI agents raided the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson and seized her computers and phone, ransacking her possessions in violation of the Privacy Act and threatening press freedom. Although Natanson was not the subject of the investigation, the search warrant indicated the raid was part of an Espionage Act investigation into one of her alleged sources.

The raid was another reminder of both the lengths the Trump administration is willing to go to trample on the First Amendment, as well as the grave dangers the Espionage Act poses to journalists and their sources. 

To discuss how we got here, what the raid means for press freedom, and how we can reform the Espionage Act to protect the First Amendment, Defending Rights & Dissent has convened a panel of experts for a livestreamed conversation. 

Join us Wednesday, February 11, at 3pm ET, live on YouTube.

Panelists include:

• Chip Gibbons, Policy Director at Defending Rights & Dissent and author of the forthcoming critical history of the FBI, The Imperial Bureau. Gibbons has advised members of Congress on reforming the Espionage Act, as well as reported on numerous Espionage Act prosecutions. See Chip’s op-ed with Seth Stern, “The FBI’s raid of journalist’s home was the product of decades of backsliding.”
• Jeffrey Sterling, Former CIA officer who served more than two years in prison after being falsely convicted under the Espionage Act, and Board member at Defending Rights & Dissent.
• Kevin Gosztola, Independent journalist who has long covered Espionage Act abuses and other attacks on journalists and their First Amendment rights. See Kevin’s coverage, “FBI Spied on Washington Post Reporter Prior To Raiding Their Home.”
  

Moderator: 

• Emily Berman, Bates Professor of Law at the University of Houston Law Center, and Board member of Defending Rights & Dissent.

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