"Classified" Information

Above is a picture of Medal of Honor Warfighter.  

Recently while watching the news, I saw an interesting story about how our freedoms as United States citizens are limited.  The story was about seven members of the Navy SEAL Team 6 who were punished for discussing “classified” information with the video game production company Electronic Arts.  Electronic Arts was consulting with members of the Navy SEAL Team 6 because they wanted their input for their new first-person shooter videogame called Medal of Honor Warfighter.  Navy SEAL Team 6 is well known because of their success with Operation Neptune Spear, the mission that killed Osama Bin Laden.  Only one of the seven members of the Navy SEAL TEAM 6, however, actually took part in the Operation Neptune Spear.  The seven Navy SEALs were punished because they talked about “classified” information that was incorporated within the videogame.  Also, fellow active and retired members of the SEALs criticized the seven consultants of the videogame because they broke an unwritten moral code about discussing information about experiences in the service.  The Navy SEALs who participated in the making of the video game will face undisclosed punishments, but they will probably be required to leave their prestigious unit. 

            Were the actions of the Navy SEALs that helped with Medal of Honor Warfighter wrong?  According to John Stuart Mill’s piece "On Liberty", we are limited to certain freedoms.  Mill, a political theorist, says, “The Liberty of the individual must be thus far limited; he must not make himself a nuisance to other people.”  He is basically saying that people are allowed to doing anything as long as it does not bring harm upon others.  Mill’s description of individual liberty, however, is vague because of the word “nuisance”.  An action that causes a “nuisance” is hard to label because the definition is very unclear. 

            The United States military came to the conclusion that the actions of the Navy SEALs were a “nuisance” to other individuals because they thought it was a threat to homeland security.  The United States military believed it was detrimental to homeland security because the game promotes itself as a game developed by members of the Navy SEALs.  Officials in the military thought that the tactics and strategizes depicted by members of the Navy SEALs in the videogame were too realistic and showed too much information.  Also, members of the military believed enemies of the United States could study this information and better prepare themselves against our military strategies.  

            Unlike the United States military, I believe that the members of Navy SEAL Team 6 did nothing wrong.  I think that Mill would agree with me because their actions did not directly inflict harm towards others.  Also, I disagree with the military’s decision to punish the Navy SEALs that helped with the videogame because I highly doubt that our enemies, such as Iran or Afghanistan, are playing either the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 to study our military tactics. 

            What do you think?  Was the military fair in their decision to punish the SEALs?  Did the SEALS harm anyone?  Do you know of any other examples where citizens have had their rights infringed upon?

A CBS discussion about the seven members of Navy SEAL Team 6 who helped with the videogame.