Sponsors (14)
This narrow textual change to Espionage Act language appears to create greater criminal exposure and legal uncertainty for people handling national‑defense information—chilling reporting and research—without identified public benefits or fiscal offsets.
No section-level provisions identified that produce clear benefits to Americans.
All Americans — especially people who handle or might come into contact with national‑defense information — face broader criminal exposure if the bill's textual change narrows existing safe harbors or expands prosecutable conduct under the Espionage Act.
Journalists, researchers, and government contractors may face increased legal uncertainty about what conduct is criminalized when possessing or handling national‑defense information, raising risks to reporting, scholarship, and contract work.
Whistleblowers, academics, and reporters may be deterred from reporting, sharing, or researching classified or sensitive information because ambiguity about the statute's reach creates a chilling effect on disclosure and inquiry.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Amends 18 U.S.C. § 793 (part of the Espionage Act) by directing that the words "after each place such term appears" be inserted after every occurrence of an unspecified term in that statutory section. The Act also sets an official short title but does not create funding, programs, or deadlines. The change is effective upon enactment and is ambiguous because the specific term to be followed by the insertion is not identified in the text provided.
Introduced May 20, 2025 by Ashley Brooke Moody · Last progress May 20, 2025