How many people have been charged with treason in the US since 2001?
Executive summary
Only one person has been federally indicted for treason in the United States since 2001: Adam Gadahn, whose 2006 indictment accused him of giving “aid and comfort” to al‑Qaida; he was never tried and was later killed abroad (indictment in 2006) [1] [2] [3]. Multiple legal and historical surveys confirm that treason prosecutions have been extraordinarily rare in modern U.S. practice, with prosecutors favoring terrorism and material‑support statutes instead [4] [2].
1. A single modern indictment — the Adam Gadahn case
The Justice Department’s October 11, 2006 press release announced the superseding federal indictment charging Adam Gadahn — an American who produced propaganda for al‑Qaida — with treason and with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization; prosecutors described him as the first person charged with treason since the World War II era [1] [5]. Contemporary reporting and later summaries likewise treat Gadahn as the lone post‑mid‑twentieth‑century treason indictment in U.S. federal courts, and note that he was never brought to trial because he was at large and later killed in a U.S. military strike [2] [3].
2. Why treason is so rarely used — statutory and practical reasons
The Constitution narrowly defines treason as levying war or adhering to enemies and giving them aid and comfort, and scholars and legal sources explain that narrowness — plus demanding proof requirements identified through case law — makes treason a difficult charge to pursue [4] [6]. After the nineteenth century, Congress and prosecutors turned to a suite of statutory crimes — espionage, seditious‑conspiracy provisions, the Espionage Act, the Smith Act, and terrorism and material‑support statutes — that provide more flexible tools for addressing national‑security threats, reducing treason’s practical use [7] [2].
3. The historical tally and how modern counts are framed
Different sources frame long‑run counts in slightly different ways — some legal histories report roughly 30 treason charges since the Constitution’s ratification, others say about 40 total prosecutions in U.S. history — but they converge on the point that prosecutions have been rare and that post‑World War II treason indictments are essentially nonexistent except for Gadahn’s 2006 case [8] [9]. Commentary after 9/11 emphasized that terrorism and material‑support prosecutions filled the prosecutorial role treason once played, explaining why treason charges did not reemerge in the “war on terror” [2] [4].
4. What “charged” means here — indictments vs. convictions
The reporting and legal references cited use “charged” to mean formally indicted or prosecuted; they note that very few historical treason prosecutions led to conviction and even fewer to execution, and that in the modern era an indictment like Gadahn’s did not reach trial [9] [3]. Sources are explicit that Gadahn was indicted but not convicted, and that other national‑security prosecutions have proceeded under alternative statutes, not under 18 U.S.C. §2381 [1] [7] [6].
5. Limitations and competing interpretations
The available reporting consistently identifies one post‑2001 treason indictment, but this analysis is limited to the sources provided and public reporting summarized therein; it does not rest on an exhaustive federal docket search conducted here. Scholars also point out an interpretive tension: treason’s narrow constitutional definition makes it rare by design, while political and social dynamics influence whether individuals are seen as “members” of the political community whose betrayal could be framed as treason rather than as foreign terrorism — a point raised in academic analyses cited [2] [4].