More unneeded secrecy

The government is trying to virtually close the trial of Stephen Rosen and Keith Weissman, two former employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. The two are accused of passing U.S. government secrets to Israel, specifically information on how the U.S. was thinking about handling Iran a couple of years ago.

I wonder if the case should even have been brought, since the two seem to have done little more than what hundreds of people in Washington do every day: work to find out stuff other people don't know and then trade on the information. If they are guilty of espionage or dealing in secrets, lots of people, including most journalists who actually pursue information rather than just relying on handouts and press releases, may be guilty also. If they're convicted it could close down sources of information even more, when what we need is more sunshine and more things unnecessarily classified brought out into the open.

Thus it would be doubly would be tragic if the government manages to keep significant portions of this trial closed to public view. Media organizations and defense lawyers are fighting the government's efforts, specifically by filing a motion in the case not to close it. let's hope they are successful.