<P> "...whoever knowingly and willfully communicates, furnishes, transmits, or otherwise makes available to an unauthorized person, or publishes, or uses in any manner prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States or for the benefit of any foreign government to the detriment of the United States any classified information ." </P> <P> Public trust dates back to the days of the Vietnam War . Henry Kissinger once said that the purpose of "those who stole" the Pentagon Papers was to "undermine confidence in their government" and "raise doubts about our reliability in the minds of other governments, friend and foe, and indeed about the stability of our political system ." </P> <P> Emotional strain on the accused from the whistle blower is also unconstrained . When a leader challenges a whistle blower, there is an automatic indictment of the leader's character . Questioning the whistleblower makes the accused guilty until proven innocent . </P> <P> Whistleblowers are sometimes seen as selfless martyrs for public interest and organizational accountability; others view them as "traitors" or "defectors ." Some even accuse them of solely pursuing personal glory and fame, or view their behavior as motivated by greed in qui tam cases . Some academics (such as Thomas Alured Faunce) feel that whistleblowers should at least be entitled to a rebuttable presumption that they are attempting to apply ethical principles in the face of obstacles and that whistleblowing would be more respected in governance systems if it had a firmer academic basis in virtue ethics . </P>

Reporting an organization to regulatory agencies or the press is called whistle-blowing