Document Leaks: The consequences of revealing secrets

When is leaking documents and revealing secrets worth the potential security risks? This hour, we'll talk about when document leaks are legal, when they are morally justified, and when they aren't — how, at times, they've put lives in danger.

We'll look at the balance of protecting national security versus freedom of the press and the responsibility of journalists once they obtain leaked documents.

Beyond our borders, we'll look at the extraordinary measures China takes to suppress secrets; how Finland is grappling with its first major leak; and how military leaders in Pakistan may have used a leak for their own political advantage. Finally we'll examine what it takes for a leaked document to ignite a political movement.

Featuring interviews with:

Gen. Michael Hayden – former director of the CIA and NSA

Jameel Jaffer – executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University

RB Brenner – director of the journalism school at the University of Texas, Austin

Heather Conley – director of the Europe Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies

Hardy Merriman – president of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict.

Juan Zarate – former deputy national security advisor under President George W. Bush

Will Fitzgibbon – reporter at the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

Christopher Ahlberg – co-founder of Recorded Future Threat Intelligence

A previous version of this episode misspelled Jameel Jaffer's name.