2005 Federal Sentencing Guidelines
Chapter 2 - PART M - OFFENSES INVOLVING NATIONAL DEFENSE AND WEAPONS OF
MASS DESTRUCTION
§2M3.3. Transmitting National
Defense Information; Disclosure of Classified Cryptographic Information;
Unauthorized Disclosure to a Foreign Government or a Communist Organization
of Classified Information by Government Employee; Unauthorized Receipt of
Classified Information
(a) Base Offense Level:
(1) 29, if top secret information;
or
(2) 24, otherwise.
Commentary
Statutory Provisions: 18
U.S.C. §§ 793(d), (e), (g), 798; 50 U.S.C. § 783(b), (c).
Application Notes:
1. See Commentary to §2M3.1.
2. If the defendant was convicted of 18 U.S.C. § 793(d) or (e) for the
willful transmission or communication of intangible information with reason
to believe that it could be used to the injury of the United States or the
advantage of a foreign nation, apply §2M3.2.
Background: The statutes
covered in this section proscribe willfully transmitting or communicating to
a person not entitled to receive it a document, writing, code book, signal
book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model,
instrument, appliance, or note relating to the national defense. Proof that
the item was communicated with reason to believe that it could be used to the
injury of the United States or the advantage of a foreign nation is required
only where intangible information is communicated under 18 U.S.C. § 793(d)
or (e).
This section also covers statutes that proscribe the disclosure of classified
information concerning cryptographic or communication intelligence to the detriment
of the United States or for the benefit of a foreign government, the unauthorized
disclosure to a foreign government or a communist organization of classified
information by a government employee, and the unauthorized receipt of classified
information.
Historical Note: Effective
November 1, 1987. Amended effective November 1, 1993 (see Appendix
C, amendment 481).