White House Focuses On Leaks To The Media
The Washington Post:
The usual reactionaries are telling us that this threat to jail reporters ought to "scare the hell" out of us, but I think that's a little misleading. This move is not aimed at prosecuting journalists for reporting leaked information but rather forcing those journalists to turn over information as to who leaked the information in the first place.
That is an important distinction to make.
From my understanding of the law it is not illegal to publish classified government information, even if it is illegally leaked to you by a government official. It is, however, illegal to obstruct an investigation into a crime. The people who leak this information are guilty of a serious crime, and journalists who protect these sources become complicit in that crime when they refuse to cooperate with government investigations. If a reporter has information about a murder or rape suspect we would all expect that reporter to cooperate with law enforcement to bring that suspect to justice. This situation with government leaks is no different. There are criminals working in our government who are violating the law by illegally making confidential information public through the press. That has to stop.
Of course, not everybody agrees with me on this. Many see these leakers not so much as criminals, but rather "truth-tellers" or "whistle-blowers" who are informing the public about nefarious government inner-workings. Mostly they see the situation this way because they don't take the war on terror seriously. They believe the NSA program, for instance, is an effort by the Bush administration to "spy on Americans" rather than a program to monitor communications between international terror suspects and individuals inside the United States.
When you see the government information being leaked as criminal it is hard for you to see the leak itself as criminal. But that way of thinking is wrong. Regardless of the legality of the NSA program (though I'd point out that Congress is getting ready to give the program their stamp of approval), bypassing the proper channels in government in favor of violating the law by making the existence of the program public through the media is still a crime. One that is worthy of investigation and prosecution.
There are ways to deal with covert intelligence operations that may or may not have over stepped their bounds without harming our national security by making them public. When we fail to prosecute people who leak illegally to the media we discourage them from working through the proper channels. We risk creating an environment where partisan interests in government routinely use illegal leaks to the media to "punish" opponents. That's not a situation we want to be in. It is harmful to our government's ability to keep us safe.
As I've said before, these leakers need to be tracked down and charged with crimes. If journalists aren't willing to be helpful I say we throw them in jail, for contempt of court or refusing to cooperate with an investigation, until they are willing to be helpful.
Because it is high time these leaks stopped.
On the face of it putting journalists in jail looks bad. It looks like the government is trying to take revenge on reporters for printing critical stories, and that is no-doubt how many in the media will play this in their usual self-serving manner. But this isn't about press freedom, this is about investigating crimes and prosecuting criminals. After all, if we aren't going to go after government officials who are involved in these illegal leaks why even bother with laws that make these leaks illegal in the first place?
The Bush administration, seeking to limit leaks of classified information, has launched initiatives targeting journalists and their possible government sources. The efforts include several FBI probes, a polygraph investigation inside the CIA and a warning from the Justice Department that reporters could be prosecuted under espionage laws.
In recent weeks, dozens of employees at the CIA, the National Security Agency and other intelligence agencies have been interviewed by agents from the FBI's Washington field office, who are investigating possible leaks that led to reports about secret CIA prisons and the NSA's warrantless domestic surveillance program, according to law enforcement and intelligence officials familiar with the two cases.
Numerous employees at the CIA, FBI, Justice Department and other agencies also have received letters from Justice prohibiting them from discussing even unclassified issues related to the NSA program, according to sources familiar with the notices. Some GOP lawmakers are also considering whether to approve tougher penalties for leaking.
In a little-noticed case in California, FBI agents from Los Angeles have already contacted reporters at the Sacramento Bee about stories published in July that were based on sealed court documents related to a terrorism case in Lodi, according to the newspaper.
The usual reactionaries are telling us that this threat to jail reporters ought to "scare the hell" out of us, but I think that's a little misleading. This move is not aimed at prosecuting journalists for reporting leaked information but rather forcing those journalists to turn over information as to who leaked the information in the first place.
That is an important distinction to make.
From my understanding of the law it is not illegal to publish classified government information, even if it is illegally leaked to you by a government official. It is, however, illegal to obstruct an investigation into a crime. The people who leak this information are guilty of a serious crime, and journalists who protect these sources become complicit in that crime when they refuse to cooperate with government investigations. If a reporter has information about a murder or rape suspect we would all expect that reporter to cooperate with law enforcement to bring that suspect to justice. This situation with government leaks is no different. There are criminals working in our government who are violating the law by illegally making confidential information public through the press. That has to stop.
Of course, not everybody agrees with me on this. Many see these leakers not so much as criminals, but rather "truth-tellers" or "whistle-blowers" who are informing the public about nefarious government inner-workings. Mostly they see the situation this way because they don't take the war on terror seriously. They believe the NSA program, for instance, is an effort by the Bush administration to "spy on Americans" rather than a program to monitor communications between international terror suspects and individuals inside the United States.
When you see the government information being leaked as criminal it is hard for you to see the leak itself as criminal. But that way of thinking is wrong. Regardless of the legality of the NSA program (though I'd point out that Congress is getting ready to give the program their stamp of approval), bypassing the proper channels in government in favor of violating the law by making the existence of the program public through the media is still a crime. One that is worthy of investigation and prosecution.
There are ways to deal with covert intelligence operations that may or may not have over stepped their bounds without harming our national security by making them public. When we fail to prosecute people who leak illegally to the media we discourage them from working through the proper channels. We risk creating an environment where partisan interests in government routinely use illegal leaks to the media to "punish" opponents. That's not a situation we want to be in. It is harmful to our government's ability to keep us safe.
As I've said before, these leakers need to be tracked down and charged with crimes. If journalists aren't willing to be helpful I say we throw them in jail, for contempt of court or refusing to cooperate with an investigation, until they are willing to be helpful.
Because it is high time these leaks stopped.
On the face of it putting journalists in jail looks bad. It looks like the government is trying to take revenge on reporters for printing critical stories, and that is no-doubt how many in the media will play this in their usual self-serving manner. But this isn't about press freedom, this is about investigating crimes and prosecuting criminals. After all, if we aren't going to go after government officials who are involved in these illegal leaks why even bother with laws that make these leaks illegal in the first place?
