Venable associate Gil Light was interviewed September 2, on the UC-Irvine public radio station KUCI as part of the show "The Docket." He discussed his recent opinion piece on WikiLeaks and criminal liability under the espionage laws.

"There is no clear answer yet [on liability]," he said. "You can look at WikiLeaks as a whistleblower site like The New York Times or you can look at it like a leaks solicitation site."

Light discussed the differences between traditional news gathering organizations and WikiLeaks, pointing out that WikiLeaks lacks transparency and may encourage people to break the law. Funding sources for traditional news organizations are known. And, reporters and editors are held publicly accountable since their names are attached to the publication. "With WikiLeaks we don't know where the funding come or who is writing it," Light said. In addition, the actual location of WikiLeaks servers is unknown, so it is not classified as an American entity, and because of that, it is unknown if WikiLeaks would be entitled to protection under the First Amendment.

Light said the real problem with the current laws on how classified documents are handled is where to draw the line. If a person with security clearance mishandles documents he or she will be in trouble, but laws regarding who can publish classified documents remain hazy. He also said sometimes newspapers decline to publish classified documents because someone may be killed or the security threat is too great.

"There is no answer to the tension right now between the freedom of the press, in America under the First Amendment and globally the right to know what governments are doing, and the balance of country's national defense," Light said.