Award Winners

The CSAD Democracy Scholars Program is a competitive award that provides opportunities for students to work in close collaboration with faculty members on some fundamental question, text, or theme of American liberal democracy. The Democracy Scholars Program is supported by the Class of 1978 Summer Research Fund and Pamela K. Jensen Faculty Research Fund endowments for the Center for the Study of American Democracy.

Gabriel Brison-Trezise '16, summer 2014

Obama, Snowden, and the Espionage Act: Leaks and the Law in America

This paper sets out to answer two questions - how to balance the public's right to free express against the government's prerogative to keep certain information secret and in what case it is acceptable for government employees to leak confidential information - beginning with a chronological examination of the issues of secrecy in the U.S. It focuses on the Espionage Act of 1917 and how it's increasingly used to prosecute government employees for leaking classified information to the press. It argues that leaking should not be legalized, but the government should enact a more robust declassification regime, create more effective internal avenues for reporting wrongdoing and treat convicted leakers more leniently; these actions will foster a more transparent and accountable government. Faculty mentor: John Elliott (political science).

CSAD Democracy Scholars Program Award Winners

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