>>The NYT may be prosecuted under 18 USC 798 - the "Comint" statute.
Whoever knowingly and willfully communicates, furnishes, transmits, or otherwise makes available to an unauthorized person, or publishes, or uses in any manner prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States or for the benefit of any foreign government to the detriment of the United States any classified information . . . concerning the communication intelligence activities of the United States . . . shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.<<
As a practical matter, it is very difficult to prosecute for a leak if the leaker is a whistle blower. Whatever you think of the program, revealing appears to fall into the whistle blower category.
I disagree emphatically. The intelligence program revealed by the Times is unquestionably legal. There isn't any serious doubt about it - both case law and statutory authority support the government. Bank records are not entitled to the same presumption of privacy as phone calls. For the Times to publish what they did was not "whistleblowing" - it was an attempt to subvert the legal action of the US government against an enemy in a time of war.
The leaker, for his or her part, should be shot, but I'll settle for life in prison - if the prison is Gitmo.