Traitors Confess to Spying for Cuba

[Brett327]

I've always been curious how they handle classified material in court. Do they have to declassify it, or let certain people in and clear them?

There are special courts and procedures for this. CIPA is the governing statutory framework. Check this out if you want to get into the weeds. Bottom line, they have special judges who are trained to deal with the special issues and circumstances which balance the competing interests of the government that want's to keep classified info safe, and the rights of the defendant WRT discovery, etc. Interesting stuff from a legal POV to be sure. These have been historically used when trying espionage cases as well.

Brett

 

[Flash]

Indeed the modern spy is usually much more motivated by money or ego than ideology but I think to ascribe a spy's motives as purely one or the other is a bit simplistic.

Simplistic, probably, but it appears to be the primary motivation in this case. Didn't want to delve into the psychology too much though it is interesting to read the psyche profiles they have done on spies, pretty twisted stuff sometimes.

The other that are almost certainly greater idealistic than financial or ego are the spies for Isreal. Pollard, Ben-ami Kadish and Yosef Amit.

Pollard was the other one I was thinking of, though his drug use and financial problems were also thought to be big motivators too.