What is the legal basis behind getting convicted of treason against the U.S.? I’ve never pledged allegience formally or anything like that that. Doesn’t our government deal with our enemies in such a way? I’m sure we had operatives behind the Iron Curtain that could have been convicted of treason against their own country. If the U.S. participates in that then how can they hold it against someone who commits treason against the U.S.? Isn’t this like saying “Do as I say, not as I do?” or “It’s wrong when you do it to us, but not against another country”.
Is treason only applicable to government employees, officials, and military personnel?
Article III, Sec. 3 of the US Constitution states “Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort…”
Any citizen can be found guilty of treason, not just government employees, officials or military personnel.
Rule number 1 of a nation is to pass laws to ensure its own survival. In issues of treason, no country is particularly interested in being “fair” by either allowing treason or not encouraging spying on their enemies. There’s not much deep philosophy behind it, except the philosophy of survival.
“I think treason would be any crime by a person with the express purpose of damaging the U.S.A.”
Nope, as was stated above, treason has a fairly narrow meaning prescribed directly in the Constitution. But your thought was interesting in that it touches on why the Founding Fathers felt they had to spell out treason, above all other crimes, in the Constitution itself: they didn’t want treason to become political, where anything that harmed the U.S. in the perception of the current President, Congress, etc. was considered treason. The short-lived (and unconstitutional) but pernicious Sedition Act sorta demonstrates their point