18 U.S.C. § 952
Section 952 · Diplomatic codes and correspondence
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 17 court decisions — leading case United States v. Bascaro (1984)
Most recently applied in United States v. Díaz-Rosado (May 2017)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Whoever, by virtue of his employment by the United States, obtains from another or has or has had custody of or access to, any official diplomatic code or any matter prepared in any such code, or which purports to have been prepared in any such code, and without authorization or competent authority, willfully publishes or furnishes to another any such code or matter, or any matter which was obtained while in the process of transmission between any foreign government and its diplomatic mission in the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on section 135 of title 22, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Foreign Relations and Intercourse (June 10, 1933, ch. 57, 48 Stat. 122).
Minor changes of phraseology were made.
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $10,000”.
Cross References
Classified information, disclosure by Government official, penalty for, see section 783 of Title 50, War and National Defense.
Classified information, disclosure of, see section 798 of this title.