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CITE

    18 USC Sec. 793                                             01/05/2009

EXPCITE

    TITLE 18 - CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
    PART I - CRIMES
    CHAPTER 37 - ESPIONAGE AND CENSORSHIP

HEAD

    Sec. 793. Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information

STATUTE

      (a) Whoever, for the purpose of obtaining information respecting
    the national defense with intent or reason to believe that the
    information is to be used to the injury of the United States, or to
    the advantage of any foreign nation, goes upon, enters, flies over,
    or otherwise obtains information concerning any vessel, aircraft,
    work of defense, navy yard, naval station, submarine base, fueling
    station, fort, battery, torpedo station, dockyard, canal, railroad,
    arsenal, camp, factory, mine, telegraph, telephone, wireless, or
    signal station, building, office, research laboratory or station or
    other place connected with the national defense owned or
    constructed, or in progress of construction by the United States or
    under the control of the United States, or of any of its officers,
    departments, or agencies, or within the exclusive jurisdiction of
    the United States, or any place in which any vessel, aircraft,
    arms, munitions, or other materials or instruments for use in time
    of war are being made, prepared, repaired, stored, or are the
    subject of research or development, under any contract or agreement
    with the United States, or any department or agency thereof, or
    with any person on behalf of the United States, or otherwise on
    behalf of the United States, or any prohibited place so designated
    by the President by proclamation in time of war or in case of
    national emergency in which anything for the use of the Army, Navy,
    or Air Force is being prepared or constructed or stored,
    information as to which prohibited place the President has
    determined would be prejudicial to the national defense; or
      (b) Whoever, for the purpose aforesaid, and with like intent or
    reason to believe, copies, takes, makes, or obtains, or attempts to
    copy, take, make, or obtain, any sketch, photograph, photographic
    negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance,
    document, writing, or note of anything connected with the national
    defense; or
      (c) Whoever, for the purpose aforesaid, receives or obtains or
    agrees or attempts to receive or obtain from any person, or from
    any source whatever, any document, writing, code book, signal book,
    sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map,
    model, instrument, appliance, or note, of anything connected with
    the national defense, knowing or having reason to believe, at the
    time he receives or obtains, or agrees or attempts to receive or
    obtain it, that it has been or will be obtained, taken, made, or
    disposed of by any person contrary to the provisions of this
    chapter; or
      (d) Whoever, lawfully having possession of, access to, control
    over, or being entrusted with any document, writing, code book,
    signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint,
    plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or note relating to the
    national defense, or information relating to the national defense
    which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used
    to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any
    foreign nation, willfully communicates, delivers, transmits or
    causes to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted or attempts to
    communicate, deliver, transmit or cause to be communicated,
    delivered or transmitted the same to any person not entitled to
    receive it, or willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it
    on demand to the officer or employee of the United States entitled
    to receive it; or
      (e) Whoever having unauthorized possession of, access to, or
    control over any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch,
    photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model,
    instrument, appliance, or note relating to the national defense, or
    information relating to the national defense which information the
    possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the
    United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully
    communicates, delivers, transmits or causes to be communicated,
    delivered, or transmitted, or attempts to communicate, deliver,
    transmit or cause to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted the
    same to any person not entitled to receive it, or willfully retains
    the same and fails to deliver it to the officer or employee of the
    United States entitled to receive it; or
      (f) Whoever, being entrusted with or having lawful possession or
    control of any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch,
    photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model,
    instrument, appliance, note, or information, relating to the
    national defense, (1) through gross negligence permits the same to
    be removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone
    in violation of his trust, or to be lost, stolen, abstracted, or
    destroyed, or (2) having knowledge that the same has been illegally
    removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in
    violation of its trust, or lost, or stolen, abstracted, or
    destroyed, and fails to make prompt report of such loss, theft,
    abstraction, or destruction to his superior officer -
      Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten
    years, or both.
      (g) If two or more persons conspire to violate any of the
    foregoing provisions of this section, and one or more of such
    persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each of
    the parties to such conspiracy shall be subject to the punishment
    provided for the offense which is the object of such conspiracy.
      (h)(1) Any person convicted of a violation of this section shall
    forfeit to the United States, irrespective of any provision of
    State law, any property constituting, or derived from, any proceeds
    the person obtained, directly or indirectly, from any foreign
    government, or any faction or party or military or naval force
    within a foreign country, whether recognized or unrecognized by the
    United States, as the result of such violation. For the purposes of
    this subsection, the term "State" includes a State of the United
    States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, territory,
    or possession of the United States.
      (2) The court, in imposing sentence on a defendant for a
    conviction of a violation of this section, shall order that the
    defendant forfeit to the United States all property described in
    paragraph (1) of this subsection.
      (3) The provisions of subsections (b), (c), and (e) through (p)
    of section 413 of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and
    Control Act of 1970 (21 U.S.C. 853(b), (c), and (e)-(p)) shall
    apply to -
        (A) property subject to forfeiture under this subsection;
        (B) any seizure or disposition of such property; and
        (C) any administrative or judicial proceeding in relation to
      such property,
    if not inconsistent with this subsection.
      (4) Notwithstanding section 524(c) of title 28, there shall be
    deposited in the Crime Victims Fund in the Treasury all amounts
    from the forfeiture of property under this subsection remaining
    after the payment of expenses for forfeiture and sale authorized by
    law.

SOURCE

    (June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 736; Sept. 23, 1950, ch. 1024,
    title I, Sec. 18, 64 Stat. 1003; Pub. L. 99-399, title XIII, Sec.
    1306(a), Aug. 27, 1986, 100 Stat. 898; Pub. L. 103-322, title
    XXXIII, Sec. 330016(1)(L), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147; Pub. L.
    103-359, title VIII, Sec. 804(b)(1), Oct. 14, 1994, 108 Stat. 3440;
    Pub. L. 104-294, title VI, Sec. 607(b), Oct. 11, 1996, 110 Stat.
    3511.)

HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES

      Based on sections 31 and 36 of title 50, U.S.C., 1940 ed., War
    and National Defense (June 15, 1917, ch. 30, title I, Secs. 1, 6,
    40 Stat. 217, 219; Mar. 28, 1940, ch. 72, Sec. 1, 54 Stat. 79).
      Section consolidated sections 31 and 36 of title 50, U.S.C., 1940
    ed., War and National Defense.
      Words "departments or agencies" were inserted twice in conformity
    with definitive section 6 of this title to eliminate any possible
    ambiguity as to scope of section.
      The words "or induces or aids another" were omitted wherever
    occurring as unnecessary in view of definition of "principal" in
    section 2 of this title.
      Mandatory punishment provision was rephrased in the alternative.
      Minor changes were made in phraseology.
                                AMENDMENTS
      1996 - Subsec. (h)(1). Pub. L. 104-294 inserted at end "For the
    purposes of this subsection, the term 'State' includes a State of
    the United States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth,
    territory, or possession of the United States."
      1994 - Pub. L. 103-322 substituted "fined under this title" for
    "fined not more than $10,000" in undesignated par. after subsec.
    (f).
      Subsec. (h)(3). Pub. L. 103-359 substituted "(p)" for "(o)" in
    two places.
      1986 - Subsec. (h). Pub. L. 99-399 added subsec. (h).
      1950 - Act Sept. 23, 1950, divided section into subdivisions,
    inserted laboratories and stations, and places where material or
    instruments for use in time of war are the subject of research or
    development to the list of facilities and places to which
    subsection (a) applies, made subsection (d) applicable only in
    cases in which possession, access, or control is lawful, added
    subsection (e) to take care of cases in which possession, access,
    or control, is unlawful, made subsection (f) applicable to
    instruments and appliances, as well as to documents, records, etc.,
    and provided by subsection (g) a separate penalty for conspiracy to
    violate any provisions of this section.
         INDICTMENT FOR VIOLATING THIS SECTION; LIMITATION PERIOD
      Limitation period in connection with indictments for violating
    this section, see note set out under section 792 of this title.