Former Justice Department officials: Stop the Leaks

[ProSense]

Stop the Leaks

By WILLIAM P. BARR, JAMIE S. GORELICK and KENNETH L. WAINSTEIN

<...>

As former Justice Department officials who served in the three administrations preceding President Obama’s, we are worried that the criticism of the decision to subpoena telephone toll records of A.P. journalists in an important leak investigation sends the wrong message to the government officials who are responsible for our national security.

While neither we nor the critics know the circumstances behind the prosecutors’ decision to issue this subpoena, we do know from the government’s public disclosures that the prosecutors were right to investigate this leak vigorously. The leak — which resulted in a May 2012 article by The A.P. about the disruption of a Yemen-based terrorist plot to bomb an airliner — significantly damaged our national security.

<...>

At the time the article was published, there were strong bipartisan calls for the Justice Department to find the leaker. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. gave that assignment to Ronald C. Machen Jr., the United States attorney for the District of Columbia, who is known for his meticulous and dedicated work. Importantly, his assignment was to identify and prosecute the government official who leaked the sensitive information; it was not to conduct an inquiry into the news organization that published it.

His office, which has an experienced national security team, undertook a methodical and measured investigation. Did prosecutors immediately seek the reporters’ toll records? No. Did they subpoena the reporters to testify or compel them to turn over their notes? No. Rather, according to the Justice Department’s May 14 letter to The A.P., they first interviewed 550 people, presumably those who knew or might have known about the agent, and scoured the documentary record. But after eight months of intensive effort, it appears that they still could not identify the leaker...after pursuing “all reasonable alternative investigative steps,” as required by the department’s regulations — that investigators proposed obtaining telephone toll records (logs of calls made and received) for about 20 phone lines that the leaker might have used in conversations with A.P. journalists...The decision was made at the highest levels of the Justice Department, under longstanding regulations that are well within the boundaries of the Constitution. Having participated in similar decisions, we know that they are made after careful deliberation, because the government does not lightly seek information about a reporter’s work. Along with the obligation to investigate and prosecute government employees who violate their duty to protect operational secrets, Justice Department officials recognize the need to minimize any intrusion into the operations of the free press.

<...>

William P. Barr was the United States attorney general from 1991 to 1993. Jamie S. Gorelick was deputy attorney general from 1994 to 1997. Kenneth L. Wainstein was assistant attorney general for national security from 2006 to 2008.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/opinion/stop-the-leaks.html

Reporter Says He First Learned of C.I.A. Operative From Rove
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022850304

Leaks could sink Obama Whitehouse (2012)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022843810

The AP's being investigated by a grand jury for who they coordinated with in Congress over the leak.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022848186

AP Leak ended informant's rare opportunity, why DOJ went after AP records
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022869034

[ProSense]

1. Kick! n/t

[ProSense]

2. Another. n/t

[ProSense]

3. Kick n/t