Answer:
the risk of being punished and prosecuted strictly.
Explanation:
US Secretary of War Newton Baker feared for the safety of those individuals who showed dissent towards the government.
With acts like Espionage Act of 1917 and The Sedition Act of 1918, the government clearly exhibited its intolerance towards any form of opposition.
Baker felt that the growing intensity of suspicion and hostility toward disloyalty and dissent in the country would put more people on the risk of being punished and prosecuted strictly.