Wheels of Justice Turning

And you thought 2005 was fun politically!

The Justice Department has opened an investigation to discover who leaked the classified information regarding the formerly Top Secret NSA program in which warrantless surveillance was conducted on selected targets in the US.

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the leak of classified information about President Bush's secret domestic [sic] 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 Times revealed the existence of the program two weeks ago in a front-page story that acknowledged 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 the president was informed of it on 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.

I’m glad that it’s happening so quickly. However, we all can imagine the political firestorm that will be a by-product of this investigation, especially with the 2006 elections upcoming. No doubt there will be much political posturing on this matter from both sides of the aisle .

Another factor that may fill all of us with dread: the subpoenas of New York Times editors and reporters to whom the information was leaked. Without a doubt, some or all members of this group will be willing to go to jail rather than give up their sources. Certainly, this would be cast as a noble act of journalistic martyrdom.

However, an even nobler act would be for those who leaked the program’s specifics to come forward and save these editors and reporters the trouble.

Certainly this person/these people believed that, by leaking classified information to the public sector, they were doing right and, in addition, no person knowledgeable of handling classified material could have believed that such a public leak wouldn’t have resulted in an investigation from the Justice Department.

Would the leaker(s) allow the reporters and editors of the New York Times rot in jail for the former’s actions? I hope that the leaker(s) have more honor than that. Sometimes doing what one deems to be right has adverse consequences; the leaker(s) would at least be due some respect were she/he/they to shed the anonymity that has previously been their shield.

Of course, funneling information secretly is one thing; taking a public stand for one's beliefs and actions are another. It will be interesting to see what the leakers are made of.

More from:

Flopping Aces

Uncle Jimbo at Blackfive

Michelle Malkin

AJ Strata

Previously:

What They Did For “Love”
More Power To Whom?
Desiring Power Over All Else

(Thanks to Memeorandum)

Comments

[Russ]

I think it's a mistake to rely on the leakers having any honor whatsoever. They certainly didn't honor their oath.

As far as I'm concerned, the reporters can rot in jail, too. By soliciting the revelation of classified information -- anything more than their sources originally tell them, or even asking for confirmation from other sources -- they are acting, in effect, as our enemies' intel agency. A pox on all of them... a pox, and a coating of tar & feathers.

[DarkStar]

I'm glad about this, but if the administration knew about this one year ago, as I assume because the NYT knew about it one year ago, then the investigation should have started then.

Of course, it may have and they are just now announcing it.

[StinKerr]

I have a nagging suspicion that there is a politician deeply involved in this or perhaps a close staff member of someone who is on one of the Congressional oversight committees and therefore privy to such information.

Politicians and their staffs are historically the weakest link in the security chain.

There was the Congresscritter who got a tour of a sub base and some subs during WW2. Someone told him that the Japanese depth charges didn't bother them because they were set shallower than the subs could go. When they were depth charged the subs would merely go deeper and get away.

This Congresscritter went back to Washington and told this to a newsie who printed it.

Being no fools, the Japanese got the story and set their depth charges deeper and sank a lot more American submarines.

This is why the submarine service is referred to as the "Silent Service" to this day. Not because of the stealth of their craft but because they won't tell anyone anything about their subs. I don't blame them. It's their lives at stake.

I've seen Senators disclose names of covert CIA analysts during the recent Bolton hearings and I recall a few instances when they have blown other secrets.

I'm pretty sure that the investigation started when they found that they NYSlimes had the story, DS. I'd suggest that it was soft pedalled in order to help encourage the NYSlimes not to publish it.

Now that there's a book in the offing and a political debate on the Patriot Act they couldn't resist bringing it up to stick their oar into the debate.

Makes me wonder if anyone is going to call for people to be frogmarched in handcuffs out of the NYSlimes building.

[Bill Faith]

I linked from Jihadis and Wiretaps and Moonbats! Oh, My! -- Part 4. "If I died right now it'd take 'em a week to get the big grin off my face. I'll fetch a rope, you go find a tree! Happy New Year, people!"

[baldilocks]

Darkstar: Could they have kept the investigation quiet had they started a year ago? Likely the secrecy was more important than getting the leakers: it isn't as if the trail weren't going to always lead back to the same place either one year ago or right now.

[Tully]

What Juliette said. Had they started a leak investigation a year ago, the NYT would have front-paged it in a heartbeat. There's no way the NYT could NOT have gotten wind of it, as the investigation would have started in from their end.

[wayne]

I'll bet good money the reason the New Jerk Slimes decided to publish was that they discovered that the investigation was getting too close to one of their beloveds: you know anyone of the commiecrat scum who is bent on destroying this country in favor of the great UN world gov.

Oh, say...Schumer, Hitlery, Kennedy, Kerry, Pelosi, etc.

Revealing this info the way it was done and how they've spun it is an act of treason and somebody needs to be shot.