Right to Know vs. Wrong to Tell

The collision between the First Amendment and executive powers.

Should those who expose secrets be protected or prosecuted?

A free press is essential to a democracy. But since 9/11, restrictions on gathering and reporting the news have been imposed by an administration that reflexively invokes public safety. Reporters from national print and broadcast media will speak out on this issue, with the legal perspective provided by a federal judge. Free and open to the public.

Keynote Speaker

The Honorable Stephen S. Trott

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

National News Media Panelists

Mary Louise Kelly, Intelligence Correspondent, National Public Radio

Jane Mayer, Staff Writer Covering Politics, The New Yorker

Scott Shane, Intelligence and National Security Reporter, New York Times

Pierre Thomas, Justice Department Correspondent, ABC News

Moderator

A. John Radsan, William Mitchell College of Law
Associate professor, former federal prosecutor, former assistant general counsel at the CIA

About the Participants

The Honorable Stephen S. Trott has been a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit since 1988, taking senior status in 2004. In his career as a state prosecutor, as U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, as associate attorney general, and later as a federal judge, he has often weighed issues of civil liberty and national security. He is uniquely qualified to discuss the balance between freedom of the press and security of information.

Mary Louise Kelly is the intelligence correspondent for National Public Radio, covering the CIA, NSA, House and Senate intelligence committees, and threats to national security. Previously, she was senior editor of All Things Considered, a producer for CNN, and a foreign correspondent with BBC World.

Jane Mayer is a staff writer covering politics for The New Yorker. She was the first woman to cover a presidential campaign for the Wall Street Journal, and to serve as the paper’s White House correspondent. She has written for the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and Time, and co-authored the best seller Landslide: The Unmaking of the
President, 1984-1988.

Scott Shane reports on intelligence and national security for The New York Times. Prior to joining the Times, he was a journalist at the Baltimore Sun, and spent several years as the paper’s Moscow correspondent. Shane also wrote the book Dismantling Utopia: How Information Ended the Soviet Union.

Pierre Thomas is a correspondent for ABC News, reporting on the Justice Department for World News with Charles Gibson. He played a key role in the network’s coverage of the 9/11 attacks. Thomas has also been a Justice Department correspondent for CNN, and as a reporter with the Washington Post.