I think there's a spectrum of behaviors that range from legitimate news gathering to something very much like espionage. Scenario 1: Leaker: Hi, I'm XXX, I wor

I think there's a spectrum of behaviors that range from legitimate news gathering to something very much like espionage. Scenario 1: Leaker: Hi, I'm XXX, I work for YYY and I'm witness to event ZZZ that I think must be exposed. I have classified documents to back up what I have to tell you. Reporter: I'm going to stop you there and make sure my editor, owner, and lawyers are on board with this and determine how to proceed. Please do not communicate any classified material at this time. Scenario 2: Leaker: Hi, I'm unhappy with the general state of things and am willing to exfiltrate any secure data I can get my hands on. Reporter: Great! What do you have access to? No, better, just send me a listing of everything. Here's a secure server and software that should crawl your net and get it out without raising any eyebrows. No wait, even better, I'll send you a USB dongle that will look like a keyboard to the hw event logger with everything you'll need on it. Not saying Assange did exactly scenario #2, but I think the press can be only so much of an active participant before they incur some liability for the removal of classified information.