Edit: turns out we do, but it has to be actually illegal behavior as opposed to just unethical.
Classification has been completely misused in the second half of last century and particularly in the first two decades of this one.
Originally dismissed by district courts, then successfully appealed as overreaching the PATRIOT act the dismissal was vacated and remanded back to district courts where it was eventually effectively dismissed during Smith v Obama when the program was sunsetted.
On the topic of war crimes, despite claims that war crimes were committed, no formal trials convicting anyone of war crimes came from either Manning's nor Snowden's revelations, despite investigations thereof [1]. This isn't just a nit-picking point, or handwaving away corruption or cover-up. If people have problems with the process, the same process that has revealed War Crimes, then that's a separate subject.
[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_12,_2007,_Baghdad_airstri...
Also;
> ...existing legal protections for whistleblowers are limited and generally do not extend to leaks of classified information. [1]
[1] - https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/analysis/F...
Which essentially means that law enforcement can collect info from your ISP, cell carrier, grocery store, banks, and anyone else without a warrant because it doesn't qualify as a search.
It's a completely broken mindset but there has been zero effort to reform it from any political party.
Technically correct. Ellsberg faced the threat of prosecution for many years after the leak.
For example the Pentagon Papers were released by Daniel Ellsberg and published by The NY Times. From Wikipedia;
> For his disclosure of the Pentagon Papers, Ellsberg was initially charged with conspiracy, espionage, and theft of government property, but the charges were later dismissed after prosecutors investigating the Watergate scandal discovered that the staff members in the Nixon White House had ordered the so-called White House Plumbers to engage in unlawful efforts to discredit Ellsberg.
An FBI agent, military enlisted or officer, etc. would rightly face charges for doseminating classified materials. There is no carte blanche to break the law because of something you don’t like that your Administration is doing. Sometimes the offense is so egregious that it’s a sacrifice someone is willing to make. In those cases if the court of public opinion is enough on the side of the leaker, there is always pardons or jury nullification to fall back on.
But I do think that it’s still precipitated by an illegal act (the leaking) which can rightly be prosecuted because generally classified material is classified for a reason and it’s not up to each individual that comes across it to decide if they agree or not.
The publisher also has to be careful that they are not soliciting or assisting the leaker in providing the materials lest they become an accomplice. I assume, although I’m not fully up to speed on the case, that this is the angle for charging Assange.