The court-martial of Private Bradley Manning resolved the charges of disclosing a cache of secret documents to WikiLeaks but left open the central legal questions raised by his prosecution. "If you ask 10 people where to draw the line between leaking and whistleblowing, you'll get 26 different answers," said Stephen Vladeck of American University Washington College of Law, a national security law expert.
And, Vladeck and others said, you will get precious little help in drawing that line from the nation's existing laws. Without clear lines, there is little to restrain an aggressive government from prosecuting national security leakers, whistleblowers and third parties who assist or facilitate the disclosure.
