National Security Offenses I: Treason

Abstract This chapter, one of the two chapters on national security offenses, argues that treason, while a crime of disloyalty, is also a crime of disobedience. Wrongness of treason, understood as a crime of disloyalty, is not entirely obvious, especially given the cosmopolitan challenge that urges that we treat national boundaries as morally arbitrary. This chapter considers various arguments to identify the wrong of treason as a crime of disloyalty, such as arguments based on consent, trust, and expectations. This chapter concludes that treason is morally wrong for government officials who are given access to power and information in exchange for their commitment to work on behalf of the political community that has given them such a privileged position. Wrongness of treason is a less straightforward matter for ordinary citizens without such special roles. For such people, the best account of the wrongness of treason is that they are going against the state’s command not to engage in acts of disloyalty. Such commands stem from the expectation that those who owe allegiance to the state are not to engage in acts of disloyalty, where that expectation is a crucial part of the configuration of the power as devised by the state to ensure physical security of the state.