Samy Gemayel, one of the youngest members of the Lebanese parliament, talks about his native country and the sacrifices its people and allies have made for its stability.

Samy Gemayel, one of the youngest members of the Lebanese parliament, talks about his native country and the sacrifices its people and allies have made for its stability.

"There have been more prosecutions for leaks in the first two years of the Obama administration than there have been in all previous presidencies combined," says Gabriel Schoenfeld, author of the recent Necessary Secrets: National Security, the Media, and the Rule of Law. While the Constitution protects freedom of speech and of the press, Schoenfeld argues, transparency sometimes conflicts with the Constitutional expectation that government "provide for our common defense."

"There have been more prosecutions for leaks in the first two years of the Obama administration than there have been in all previous presidencies combined," says Gabriel Schoenfeld, author of the recent Necessary Secrets: National Security, the Media, and the Rule of Law. While the Constitution protects freedom of speech and of the press, Schoenfeld argues, transparency sometimes conflicts with the Constitutional expectation that government "provide for our common defense."

A student of the history and political economy of the media, Robert W. McChesney is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and president of Free Press, a national media reform organization. He describes the decline of independent journalism in the United States, and suggests that more public resources be devoted to maintaining the free and unbiased news coverage that is essential to a democracy.

A student of the history and political economy of the media, Robert W. McChesney is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and president of Free Press, a national media reform organization. He describes the decline of independent journalism in the United States, and suggests that more public resources be devoted to maintaining the free and unbiased news coverage that is essential to a democracy.

Larry Cox, the executive director of Amnesty International USA, discusses the importance of human rights activism, the current work of Amnesty, and how to relate the principle of thinking globally and acting locally to our lives.

Larry Cox, the executive director of Amnesty International USA, discusses the importance of human rights activism, the current work of Amnesty, and how to relate the principle of thinking globally and acting locally to our lives.

This is the second of three sessions at a symposium titled "Soldiers and Citizens: Military and Civic Culture in America," sponsored by the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities and hosted by Boston College. The panelists are Colonel Charles D. Allen (Ret.), a professor at the United States Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania; Lawrence Korb, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress; Paul Rieckhoff, founder and director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America; and Cullen Murphy, moderator, editor-at-large of Vanity Fair.

This is the third of three sessions at a symposium titled "Soldiers and Citizens: Military and Civic Culture in America," sponsored by the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities and hosted by Boston College. The panelists are Rick Atkinson, a Pulitizer Prize-winning author; Andrew Bacevich, professor of international relations and history at Boston University; and Sarah Sewall, a teacher of international affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. MSNBC news commentator Rachel Maddow is the moderator.