Between the time I wrote these words and the time that you are reading them, a team of government censors decided how much of what I wrote you would get to see. Fortunately, it was cleared without redactions. But I haven’t always been so fortunate.

There are millions of others like me who face this scrutiny as present and former employees of the armed services and a dozen other government agencies, from the C.I.A. and F.B.I. to the State and Energy Departments. We have faithfully carried out our duties and upheld our oaths of allegiance to the Constitution. Many of us earned the highest trust of our country, serving in roles that brought us in contact with government secrets and classified material. We have honored and repaid that trust, guarding sensitive information and fulfilling the obligations associated with our security clearances.

In return, we have been rewarded with what feels very much like a lifetime of distrust. Whenever we want to write about even the nonsensitive aspects of our service and experience, we have to submit our manuscripts and articles for prepublication review by the government. We have to do this even after we retire.

I spent 31 years in sworn duty to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, and I’m pretty sure this is not how the First Amendment is supposed to work. That’s why I have joined in a lawsuit with four other former federal employees seeking to block the government from enforcing this review process in its current form.