The New Plumbers

The Washington Post has a disturbing article today on the increased pressure by the government to investigate journalists who receive leaks as well as their sources. The investigations (along with many of the Administration's intentional leaks) have been decided upon based on the political imperatives for the Bush administration rather than whether the public interest was served or impeded by the leak. The two leaks that demonstrate the differentiation in the administration's approach are the leak of CIA operative Valerie Wilson and the leak of the existence of a warrantless NSA wiretapping program outside the bounds of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the Patriot Act. In the former case, the administration at first seemed to defend itself (and blame non-administration officials) while, as has become clear since, the leak of her identity was a crude political ploy to extract revenge upon her husband, Joe Wilson, who had published an op-ed in the NY Times debunking the administration's claim that Saddam Hussein had tried to by uranium from Africa (peaking with the infamous 16 words in his 2003 State of the Union speech). While the issue was later investigated by Patrick Fitzgerald, the Bush administration has continued the strategy of leaking information that supports their arguments, while denouncing the leakers of less favorable information as traitors. The biggest example of this has been the administration and Republicans furor over the leaking of the existence of the warrantless NSA wiretapping program. In this case, the leak did not reveal any of the operational details of the wiretapping proposal and did not damage national security, while at the same time illuminating the public of an illegal program that should, under the rules of democratic governance, be decided openly. No one in their right mind would believe that those who are plotting to attack the U.S. do not know that their phone calls are probably being monitored. Thus, the administration's selective attack on leakers has been hypocritical at best and damaging to freedom of the press at worst. The article tells that:

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.

In addition, they are contemplating going after the reporters who received the information under the 1917 Espionage Act:

The Justice Department also argued in a court filing last month that reporters can be prosecuted under the 1917 Espionage Act for receiving and publishing classified information.

This is a disturbing revelation especially since the Vice President has claimed the unilateral authority to declassify documents and his former-Chief of Staff Scooter Libby has claimed in his defense that superiors authorized the leaking of Valerie Wilson's identity (an argument that seems quite unrelated to his trial for perjury and obstruction of justice). However, it highlights the dichotomy between the administration (and their lapdog Congressional allies) view that some leaks are alright as long as they help the administration while leaks that undermine the administration are the moral equivalent of treason.