What is the test for conspiracy to transmit information "relating to the national defense"?

18 U.S.C. 794 forbids conspiracy to transmit information "relating to the national defense." The government acknowledges that it was for the jury to decide whether the documents defendant conspired to transmit were of such a character. Gorin v. United States, 312 U.S. 19, 31-32, 61 S.Ct. 429, 85 L.Ed. 488 (1941). It seems likewise to be agreed that the jury's finding on this issue depended mainly on its assessment, in the light of the instructions given to it by the trial court, of six documents allegedly found in defendant's car at the time of his arrest.

Defendant claims that the trial court defined information "relating to the national defense" only in terms of its availability to the public, and not in terms of its contents as well. On the contrary, the trial court charged the jury, "The term `national defense' is a generic concept of broad connotation referring not only to military, naval and air establishments but to all related activities of national defense." See Gorin v. United States, 312 U.S. 19, 28, 61 S.Ct. 429, (1941). In addition, the trial court told the jury, "in deciding this issue, you should examine the documents, and also consider the testimony of witnesses who testified as to their content and their significance and who described the purpose and the use to which the information contained therein could be put." Such instructions were more than ample.