I don't know in which reality you live that state secret takes precedent over criminal activity.

How are you going to handle Trump's indictments then?

We see the world in different ways.

I see it as exposing corruption within our institutions of power.

I think you see it as, just crimes... and you miss the importance of what these people have risked to inform the public.

It was ground breaking everytime these leaks happen. The problem is that propaganda machines and MSM twist it to lessen the impact everytime. Pitting the common people against those that help see the truth.

edit: words

The first amendment gives freedom of the press.

Journalists can publish whatever they want, as long as it's true, even if it contains state secrets.

Maybe you should care about what your government does in foreign countries. Particularly when it is routinely murder and manipulation, as is the case with the U.S. government.

That aside, I invite you on a thought experiment:

Let’s say everyone took your advice and just let the government hide whatever it wanted because it is a “state secret”. Let’s say then the government goes ham and commits a bunch of atrocities. What would stop it from declaring them state secrets to prevent the public from knowing about them?

Watergate was a state secret.

Oh, we're all well aware how much you care about the world beyond your borders.

State secret that a bunch of broskis in an AC130 were playing target practice with civilians.

When states hide crimes by making them secret, that is called a cover up. Cover-ups are illegal. Publishing documentation of crimes is not.

“The post-conventional level [of morality], also known as the principled level, is marked by a growing realization that individuals are separate entities from society, and that the individual's own perspective may take precedence over society's view; individuals may disobey rules inconsistent with their own principles. Post-conventional moralists live by their own ethical principles—principles that typically include such basic human rights as life, liberty, and justice. People who exhibit post-conventional morality view rules as useful but changeable mechanisms—ideally rules can maintain the general social order and protect human rights. Rules are not absolute dictates that must be obeyed without question. Because post-conventional individuals elevate their own moral evaluation of a situation over social conventions, their behavior, especially at stage six, can be confused with that of those at the pre-conventional level.

Kohlberg has speculated that many people may never reach this level of abstract moral reasoning.”