Would you recognize treason?
March 2024
Have you ever observed a co-worker in the act of perpetrating what you believed to be a crime or a flagrant violation of company policy? If so, what did you do about it?
Handling such situations can be a real test of your morality, your ethics, your honor, and your loyalty to your company—and sometimes the country. It may also be a test of your loyalty to your co-worker(s). It’s up to you to determine which loyalties are most important to uphold in given situations.
Early in my management career at AT&T, I was responsible for coordinating major events in our region where our senior executives could spend time building relationships with the senior executives of the national and global customer accounts headquartered in our area. My duty was to ensure we held flawless, first-class events. I had a counterpart—who reported directly to our corporate headquarters— who was responsible for negotiating the financial Terms and Conditions of these events.
A few months prior to one such extravaganza, I led an on-site planning meeting with the operations team of the most prestigious country club in the area where our next executive golf tournament was to be held. I would ensure that every operational detail would be perfect while my corporate counterpart was to simultaneously meet with the club’s General Manager to finalize the costs and payment terms.
My meeting ran long—well beyond the club’s normal business hours. When it concluded, I quickly gathered my belongings and headed down the back hall to the remaining unlocked staff exit. As I passed the conference room where my counterpart was apparently still meeting with the club’s GM, the door was ajar and I could overhear their dialog. They must have assumed no one else was still in the building.
What I accidentally overheard was so shocking, I elected to pause just beyond the door to listen just long enough to confirm what I was really hearing. Turns out, the club GM was explaining how he could overbill AT&T a certain percentage and then somehow pay the overage remitted to my counterpart as a cash “gratuity”. In return, my counterpart would guarantee the club would be awarded the business the next time we held another golf tournament. It would be a financial win for both men, at my company’s expense. Having heard enough, I quickly and quietly exited the building.
As I drove home, I weighed my options: Should I ignore what I overheard and not get involved? Should I confront my counterpart and demand an explanation? Should I meet privately with our regional head of Human Resources and let them handle it?
Acknowledging I may have misinterpreted the conversation, I elected to alert the proper corporate authority in hopes a discreet investigation would be conducted and appropriate action taken, if warranted. At least this seemed to me to be the most moral, ethical, and honorable approach. I rationalized that my loyalty to the company far outweighed any loyalty my counterpart deserved.
Our head of HR was both professional and empathetic to my situation. She assured me an investigation would take place in due time. Meanwhile, I was simply to ensure the golf tournament was a success and treat my counterpart with respect, as though I had overheard nothing. If I learned any additional facts, I was to report back immediately, in private.
In the ensuing weeks I learned nothing further, and the golf tournament was indeed a success. Interestingly, I never saw my counterpart again. He simply seemed to disappear. To this day, I have no idea what happened to him or the club General Manager. At least I believed I had done the right thing for the company and I maintained my sacred honor.
Looking back now, given the pervasive level of corruption in society today, my golf tournament story seems trivial in comparison. Yet, I’ve learned that when we choose to ignore corruption and allow the perpetrators to go unchallenged, the corruption not only continues, it mushrooms out of control—sometimes to the point of treason.
Have you ever encountered a situation that could potentially be considered treasonous?
The Merriam Webster dictionary defines Treason as “the offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance, or to kill or personally injure the sovereign or the sovereign's family.”
Treason is the only crime defined in the U.S. Constitution. Article III, Section 3 provides that “Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.”
In the book Constitutional Sound Bites: America’s Founding Documents and First Principles in a 21st Century Presentation, which answers questions about America’s founding documents, legal scholar and author David J. Shestokas, J.D. explains:
The crime of treason was made constitutional to make it specific and not subject to change by Congress and used for politics. The Framers knew the British government had misused the charge against political foes.
During the ratification debates the Constitution’s supporters made clear that treason’s limited definition would protect ordinary political practices from tyrannical prosecutions.
In English law, for a long time before the Revolution, just thinking about the king’s death (known as “compassing”) was treason. The charge was used freely against political adversaries and the danger of an arrest for treason due to mere criticism of the government could chill most opposition.
Paraphrasing Ben Franklin, the charge of treason was the excuse the winners used to hang the losers. That would not be the case in the American republic.
A few examples of what might be considered treason in the modern era could be:
Poisoning water reservoirs
Facilitating the invasion of the US
Subverting a presidential election
There are a great many other possibilities.
Do you know what you should do if you believe you have overheard someone in the act of planning a treasonous act, or observed them in the act of committing treason?
You should—as soon as possible—report what you know to an appropriate US or State justice or judge or report the act to the Governor of the particular state, or to the President. Otherwise, if you fail to do so, you could potentially be found guilty of Misprision of Treason.
Per 18 USC chapter 115 (USCode.House.gov), Misprision of Treason is defined as:
Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States and having knowledge of the commission of any treason against them, conceals and does not, as soon as may be, disclose and make known the same to the President or to some judge of the United States, or to the governor or to some judge or justice of a particular State, is guilty of misprision of treason and shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than seven years, or both.
While I may not have suffered any penalties if I had failed to report the deceptive act described in my story above, concealing your knowledge and failing to disclose to the proper authority when you know a treason is being—or is about to be—committed is a serious offense.
So, be sure to appropriately report—as soon as possible—if you ever observe a probable act of treason or the planning thereof. Rather than forever dealing with guilt or a heavy conscience, muster your courage to do the right thing and report what you know.
At least you will be able to stand proud that you have passed the ultimate test of your morality, your ethics, your honor, and your loyalty to your country.