Rep. Rashida Tlaib Introduces Landmark Espionage Act Reform: The Daniel Ellsberg Press Freedom & Whistleblower Protection Act

During remarks to the House floor on Wednesday, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) introduced the Daniel Ellsberg Press Freedom and Whistleblower Protection Act, a landmark bill to reform the Espionage Act to finally end its long history as a weapon to silence whistleblowers, government leakers, and journalists. Defending Rights & Dissent has been working for decades to bring this type of urgently needed reforms to the Congressional floor, and we hosted Rep. Tlaib in a panel event introducing the bill earlier this month.

Named for the legendary Pentagon Papers whistleblower, this legislation will amend the Espionage Act to create a public interest defense, and to explicitly ban its use against journalists and their sources who are seeking to expose crimes, waste, fraud, or abuse.

Watch Rep. Tlaib’s remarks here:

Reform could not be more urgently needed. In January, a member of Congress called for investigative journalist Seth Harp to be charged under the Espionage Act. That same month, FBI agents raided the private home and seized the devices of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson last month, pursuing a search warrant for an Espionage Act investigation into one of her alleged sources.

The Daniel Ellsberg Press Freedom and Whistleblower Protection Act will end this type of abuse, allow conscientious government employees to come forward with evidence of crimes and corruption, and protect the freedom of journalists to report what our government is doing behind closed doors.

Write to your Congress members and urge them to cosponsor the Daniel Ellsberg Act now!