Posted on 12/30/2005 6:47:59 PM PST by Brilliant
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department has opened another investigation into leaks of classified information, this time to determine who divulged the existence of President Bush's secret domestic spying program.
The inquiry focuses on disclosures to The New York Times about warrantless surveillance conducted by the National Security Agency since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, officials said.
The newspaper recently revealed the existence of the program in a front-page story that also acknowledged that the news had been withheld from publication for a year, partly at the request of the administration and partly because the newspaper wanted more time to confirm various aspects of the program.
White House spokesman Trent Duffy said Justice undertook the action on its own, and Bush was informed of it Friday.
"The leaking of classified information is a serious issue. The fact is that al-Qaida's playbook is not printed on Page One and when America's is, it has serious ramifications," Duffy told reporters in Crawford, Texas, where Bush was spending the holidays.
Catherine Mathis, a spokeswoman for the Times, declined to comment.
Disclosure of the secret spying program two weeks ago unleashed a firestorm of criticism of the administration. Some critics accused the president of breaking the law by authorizing intercepts of conversations — without prior court approval or oversight — of people inside the United States and abroad who had suspected ties to al-Qaida or its affiliates.
Bush, who publicly acknowledged the program's existence and described how it operates, has argued that the initiative is legal in a time of war.
The inquiry launched Friday is only the most recent effort by the Bush administration to determine who is disclosing information to journalists.
Two years ago, a special counsel was named to investigate who inside the White House gave reporters the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame, an effort that led to perjury and obstruction of justice charges against Vice President Dick Cheney's top aide, Lewis I. "Scooter" Libby.
More recently, the Justice Department has begun examining whether classified information was illegally disclosed to The Washington Post about a network of secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe and elsewhere.
The NSA leak probe was launched after the Justice Department received a request from the spy agency.
It is unclear whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will recuse himself from the inquiry. He was White House counsel when Bush signed the executive order authorizing the NSA, which is normally confined to overseas operations, to spy on conversations taking place on American soil.
For the past two weeks, Gonzales also has been one of the administration's point men in arguing that the president has the constitutional authority to conduct the spying.
"It's pretty stunning that, rather than focus on whether the president broke his oath of office and broke federal law, they are going after the whistleblowers," said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Romero said a special prosecutor from outside the Justice Department needs to be appointed. "This confirms many of the fears about Gonzales' appointment — that he would not be sufficiently independent from the president and that he would play the role of a crony," he said.
Duke University law professor Scott Silliman agreed that the Justice Department is taking the wrong approach.
"Somebody in the government has enough concern about this program that they are talking to reporters," Silliman said. "I don't think that is something the Justice Department should try to prosecute."
Douglas Kmiec, a Pepperdine University law professor, said the Justice probe is the next logical step because the NSA is alleging a violation of a law that prohibits disclosure of classified information.
"The Department of Justice has the general obligation to investigate suspected violations of the law," Kmiec said. "It would be extraordinary for the department not to take up this matter."
The NSA probe likely will result in a repeat of last summer's events in Washington, where reporters were subpoenaed to testify about who in the administration told them about Plame's work at the CIA. New York Times reporter Judith Miller spent 85 days in jail for refusing to reveal her sources.
Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said the Plame investigation was about "political gamesmanship." But, she said, the NSA leak probe is frightening.
"In this case, there is no question that the public needed to know what the New York Times reported," she said. "It's much more of a classic whistleblower situation. The public needs to know when the government is engaged in things that may well be unconstitutional."
The surveillance program bypassed a nearly 30-year-old secret court established to oversee highly sensitive investigations involving espionage and terrorism.
Administration officials insisted that Bush has the power to conduct warrantless surveillance under the Constitution's war powers provision. They argued that Congress also gave Bush the power when it authorized the use of military force against terrorists in a resolution adopted within days of the Sept. 11 attacks.
several variants of this have been posted today...
Good news
I'm getting sick and damn tired of hearing about this "firestorm" of criticism - the only criticism is coming from the terrorist sympathizers in the media.
What if... they are not independent events, but are connected? As a research group, Freepers are without equals. Why don't we step back even farther from the canvass and paint the big picture? What dots really need to be connected? Are there common denominates between all these events? What are they?
I am not a conspiracy nut, but these questions concern me greatly. Why aren't Pubbies willing to ask the hard questions? Are the part of the corruption, or do they think this country couldn't handle the truth?
The truth. I would like to think that is all we Freepers really want to know.
AMEN to you....you have that right!!!!
"Somebody in the government has enough concern about this program that they are talking to reporters," Silliman said. "I don't think that is something the Justice Department should try to prosecute."
i.e., according to this Duke University tenured moron, as long as somebody in government has "enough concern" he ought to be able to break the law, commit treason or sedition, and walk away with nothing more than a shrug of the shoulders from gthe Justice Department and a chorus of Attaboys from academia.
And this guy is a professor of LAW?
It's not just an evil, "secret domestic spying program", it's President Bush's secret domestic spying program. CNN ominously attached Bush ownership in exactly the same way today.
and most of the democratic party, and some RINO senators too. let's not forget about them.
I'm sorry but I just assumed they were all connected and being orchestrated by the DNC and the MSM. Can I prove that, well of course not. We are not invited to the DNC leadership meetings and even then I am sure that they keep their distance and use middlemen to implement these "stories" - when to release which one out of the huge pool of leaked secrets. I am sure the wall was a RAT creation, and they get the pubbies to go along - wouldn't that be pubic record (all except the classified sessions that Rocky was involved with). I don't think you would ever find Soros in a meeting with Howie Dean. The real reason they are so hysterical over this NSA spying is they are afraid there phones have been tapped, their pcs infiltrated, and their e-mails intercepted. Bush and Rove reviewing all the DNC plans for '06 and '08. /sarcasm
Macsmind is doing its usual superb job covering the news of the Department of Justice investigation into the leaking of information on the NSA surveillance system to the New York Times (which Mac called a day ahead of time), and brings us news that the Washington Post is also under investigation for the CIA leaks it printed. There is an ongoing series of updates, so check back regularly.
Our own ace, Clarice Feldman, will no doubt be on the story when she returns from her holiday travels, have no fear. A lot of chickens are coming home to roost, and a lot of lefties who feigned outrage over desk jockey Valerie Plame's name being mentioned when they thought Karl Rove was on the hook are going to have to eat their words. Plame was never "outed" because there was nothing to out. Intelligence secrets, on the other hand, are genuine fodder for hard time in the graybar hotel, and the precedent has been set for locking up reporters 'til they sing.
It's going to be an interesting New Year.
Thomas Lifson 12 30 05
Its so sickening how this NSA story is slanted. I used to watch nightline back in the day with Ted, even though I didn't agree with much of the politics...But Terry Moran is just unbearable...He is so obviously full of it! His recent interview with Cheney in Iraq was the 1st and last time I'll be watching him. At least Cheney made him look like the toddler he is!
I sometimes wonder how Hagel, Snowe, McCain and Specter ever convinced anyone that they should be elected to public office. Something is wrong when four losers like this can continue to chop holes in the bottom of the boat faster than we can bail.
I was going to refer to that quote too but you beat me to it.
You know there's going to be vomit and diarrhea whenever a university professor is quoted like the person is an authoritative source of anything that happens in reality; and a law professor, at that, with no concern that the law has been broken. Wow!
Thankfully, we now have the New Media. This article is such an amateurish, disjointed, cut-and-paste hack job. Is Toni Locy in elementary school?
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