Leakers: Truth-teller, Threat, or Fake News?

Abstract

The sharing or leaking of government information is a multifaceted subject. Certainly, there is a history of leaking to media outlets and many can remember the Pentagon Papers blasting a new road to leaking in the early 1970s. Besides historic precedent, there are numerous variables that affect leaking in the twenty-first century, which include Millennials’ and the general public’s attitudes toward information sharing and validity, punishment of leakers, intent, and over-classification of information.