Posted on 05/25/2013 12:03:43 PM PDT by lbryce
Even before the F.B.I. conducted 550 interviews of officials and seized the phone records of Associated Press reporters in a leak investigation connected to a 2012 article about a Yemen bomb plot, agents had sought the same reporters sources for two other articles about terrorism.
In a separate case last year, F.B.I. agents asked the White House, the Defense Department and intelligence agencies for phone and e-mail logs showing exchanges with a New York Times reporter writing about computer attacks on Iran. Agents grilled officials about their contacts with him, two people familiar with the investigation said.
And agents tracing the leak of a highly classified C.I.A. report on North Korea to a Fox News reporter pulled electronic archives showing which officials had gained access to the report and had contact with the reporter on the day of the leak. They studied one officials entrances and exits from the State Department, obtained his Yahoo e-mail information and even searched his hard drive for deleted files, documents unsealed this month showed.
The emerging details of these and other cases show just how wide a net the Obama administration has cast in its investigations into disclosures of government secrets, querying hundreds of officials across the federal government and even some of their foreign counterparts.
The result has been an unprecedented six prosecutions and many more inquiries using aggressive legal and technical tactics. A vast majority of those questioned were cleared of any leaking.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
2. F.B.I. agents then set out to find the leaker, a process that has become far easier in recent years as e-mail and other electronic records have proliferated.
Consequences of Mere Guilt by Association
Officials who have been questioned in the current investigations are reluctant to describe their experiences. But the account of William E. Binney, who spent more than 30 years at the National Security Agency, shows what can happen.
Mr. Binney, 69, who retired from the N.S.A. in 2001, was one of several people investigated as part of an inquiry into a 2005 Times article on the spy agencys warrantless wiretapping program.
He was cleared of any wrongdoing, but the investigation derailed his career and changed his life. Starting in March 2007, Mr. Binney said, he was interviewed by the F.B.I. three times and felt he had cooperated fully.
It sadly reminded me of the tragic event, consequences that can be so easily wrought by political enemies as what occurred in the case of Raymond James Donovan, Secretary of Labor appointed by President Ronald Reagan on February 4, 1981, and serving in this office until March 15, 1985.
In a highly publicized 1987 case, Donovan and six other defendants were indicted by a Bronx County, New York grand jury for larceny and fraud in connection with a project to construct a new line for the New York City Subway, through a scheme involving a Genovese crime family associate and a minority-owned subcontractor. Schiavone Construction was obligated to subcontract part of the work to a minority-owned enterprise. The essence of the charge was that because the minority owned firm (Jo-Pel Contracting and Trucking Corp) leased equipment from Schiavone, that it was not truly independent of Schiavone.
On May 25, 1987, Donovan (and all of the other defendants) were acquitted, charges were trumped up by liberal Democrats out to malign the Reagan administration as I recall being reported at the time.
I've often thought of the tragic fate endured by Donovan, of how his life was ruined by political enemies of plaintively lamenting, "Which office do I go to get my reputation back?"
Well, those six, MSM (I suppose) slapdogs can certainly thank President Duplicity for their journalistic misfortune.
What would happen if Daniel Ellsberg were active today? Would the Leftists support him, or cheer on Obama’s efforts to silence, intimidate and destroy him?
My impression is that the press, I’m thinking of the Slimes, would not as relentless, devout about their sacred freedom of the press. Besides, in those days the liberal press was on a witch hunt against a Republican Administration, while today, they can easily justify keeping their leaked stories close to their vest because they’re defending “truth, justice and democracy” and making sure the promised “transparency” stays just opaque enough to cover the black a** they’re so intent on keeping white.
Obama’s administration lies - lies about the IRS, Benghazi, Fast and Furious, immigration, FOXNews, the AP etc. With a habit of lying Obama’s team must keep the lid on any chance the truth might get out.
Liars don’t like people looking into their lies. And if the liars have power, they punish people who challenge them...
Sources live in fear, reporters and others who might have come forward don't - a damper is put on our free press. That's wrong.
Guess the New York Times is going to understand how everyday conservatives feel as Obama sticks the IRS on us while talking about how horrible it is for the IRS to be stuck on us...
On the lighter brighter side the New York Times people don't have to worry about reporters going to jail to protect their sources anymore - because Obama will just have anyone he doubts followed, taped, recorded, charged with a crime...
Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping!
To get onto The Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping List you must threaten to report me to the Mods if I dont add you to the list...
Seems like they stopped in mid-trace. How did the reporter get the info to "leak" it? Had to be a "re-leak".
LOL.
Purposeful leaks by this administration.
Bet Leaky Leahy goes unpunished.
A year ago when John Brennan became the D.C. news media's chief suspect and Congress prepared to launch an investigation Obama ordered Holder and the Justice Department to investigate. It's a charade because they knew who leaked—it was them.
I'm breaking out in paroxyms of facial spasms just thinking of what we're going to do to Bill Clinton once he's in our midst.
the word fascist comes to mind.....
Are you so sure about Donovan’s innocence?
It seems like his firm was pretty mobbed up:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/02/nyregion/02contractors.html
BookMark
This is all just so confusing. Leaks here, leaks there, leaks abound everywhere.
Personally, i would just be happy to find out what was in that 20K-page CIA document dump to Murray Waas that we never heard a word about again.
This seems to be new info, at least I hadn't read or heard about it.
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