The general public does not have the right to know all of the government's secrets because lives are at stake, deputy assistant to the president Dr. Sebastian Gorka said Tuesday.
Gorka spoke with Newsmax TV's Steve Malzberg about the arrest of a government contract worker who is accused of stealing a classified document and sending it to a media outlet.
"Does the general public, does everybody have the right to know the location of our undercover agents in the most dangerous parts of the world?" Gorka said. "Would it have been all right for the media to publish that we were actually storming the beaches at Normandy today on the anniversary of Operation Overlord and not, in fact, where the Nazis believed, which was that we were coming at Cali? No.
"These kinds of things get people killed. There are things that of course the public has the right to, but when it comes to national security and the protection of all of us, that's what classified information is about. Precious information related to national security. The leaking of that information is a threat to all Americans."
Gorka noted he cannot comment specifically on the case of Reality Leigh Winner, who was arrested over the weekend after authorities said she gave an NSA document to The Intercept. He did say illegally sharing classified information is not taken lightly.
"I wouldn't like to comment specifically on the case, but any charge with regards to classified information and the sharing or leaking of it is serious," he said. "The general reality is this is a serious, serious charge."
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