Responsibility of ownership.?

Question

Since the owner of a company is ultimately responsible for the actions of a company, then shouldn't the owner of a company be held responsible for the resulting consequences of the company's actions?

Case in point: New York Times - It is not known whether a result of their treasonous divulgeance of classified information has made or will make the Iraq conflict take longer to conclude, or how many lives will ultimately be lost because of their treason (Perhaps more than you realize since one thing naturally leads to another) and we will never know whether one of the individuals who had their assigned duties curtailed by the travesty of justice perpetrated by the New York Times would have -- or even could have -- initiated a sequence of events which may very well have culminated in the quick resolution of the engagement.

I ask you........... What punitive measure would even come close to being severe enough to satisfy the bloodlust of justice?

Answer 1

To a certain extent.

Answer 2

Treason is the crime committed: the crime of disloyalty to one's nation or state. A person who betrays the nation of their citizenship and/or reneges on an oath of loyalty and in some way willfully cooperates with an enemy, is considered to be a traitor. The New York times has committed treason, yet some observers demand to know what laws, if any, were broken, what was the harm done, and what punishment would fit?

To this end, the source listed below cites the exact portion of the US legal code that has been violated and what punishment the law describes for such an action as undertaken by the Times:

"The legal remedy for what the New York Times has done is the death penalty and confiscation of the newspaper.

U.S. Code Title 18, Part I, Chapter 37, § 794
§ 794. Gathering or delivering defense information to aid foreign government

(a) Whoever, with intent or reason to believe that it is to be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation, communicates, delivers, or transmits, or attempts to communicate… to any foreign government, or to any faction or party… whether recognized or unrecognized by the United States… any document, writing… plan… or information relating to the national defense, shall be punished by death or by imprisonment for any term of years or for life, except that the sentence of death shall not be imposed unless the jury or, if there is no jury, the court, further finds that the offense resulted in the identification by a foreign power… directly concerned… early warning systems, or other means of defense or retaliation against large-scale attack; war plans; communications intelligence…. or any other major weapons system or major element of defense strategy.
(b) Whoever, in time of war, with intent that the same shall be communicated to the enemy, collects, records, publishes, or communicates, or attempts to elicit any information with respect to… any other information relating to the public defense, which might be useful to the enemy, shall be punished by death or by imprisonment for any term of years or for life.
(c) If two or more persons conspire to violate this section, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each of the parties to such conspiracy shall be subject to the punishment provided for the offense which is the object of such conspiracy.
(d)
(1) Any person convicted of a violation of this section shall forfeit to the United States irrespective of any provision of State law—
(A) any property constituting, or derived from, any proceeds the person obtained, directly or indirectly, as the result of such violation, and
(B) any of the person’s property used, or intended to be used, in any manner or part, to commit, or to facilitate the commission of, such violation."