Diplomatic codes and correspondence
Official text prohibited actmental stateif conditionpenaltylegal term
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, 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 or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.
History: (June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 743 (PDF, 39 MB); Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, §330016(1)(L), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147 (PDF, 52 MB).)
Simplified explanation
It is a federal crime for a U.S. government employee who got access to official diplomatic codes or coded messages through the job to willfully publish or give them to others without permission. This also covers messages taken while being sent between a foreign government and its embassy in the U.S.