(If already posted, please move or delete) WP reports targeting of journalists for espionage

If this has already been posted, please move or delete. I couldn't find it, though.

The justice department and executive administration are seeking to warn or prosecute journalists under espionage laws.

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.

Numerous employees at the CIA, FBI, Justice Department and other agencies also have received letters from Justice prohibiting them from discussing even unclassified issues related to the NSA program, according to sources familiar with the notices. Some GOP lawmakers are also considering whether to approve tougher penalties for leaking.

Link: www.msnbc.msn.com...

We don't know the details, and I am not one to rush to judgment. We don't know if the warnings regarding even unclassified issues are accurately reported or documented. If true however, I would personally find this gravely troubling.


[edit on 4-3-2006 by AceWombat04]

I looked for it too and didn't find it, so I submitted the story. I don't think this has made it to ATS yet, but it's not exactly breaking news either. It's more of a zoomed-out look at what's developing and what's been developing, in terms of the priority placed, by our government, on stopping leaks.

It is news though, and it is important. Personally I think there should be stiff penalties for leaking classified information. However, I think most of us will agree that people will still occasionally get the urge to do what's right instead of what's safe or profitable.

Point being, what they did was against the law, but that doesn't mean it was wrong. What journalists have been getting is whispers of something really sinister, whether its unauthorized wiretaps and secret prisons, or its abuse and Iraqi death squads.

This stuff is serious. Yes, it's a matter of national security, and that's serious too.

In the end, people do what they think is right. Some folks think that the American people have a right to know what atrocities are being committed in their name - I agree with them.

But the law can't bend for stuff like this, can it? People who leak classified information should be prosecuted, to dissuade people from doing it without a real good reason. Mostly it's simple greed that motivates people to break the law, but sometimes its something quite different...

I really think people should stop and take note of those among us sacrificing individual safety and anonymity and comfort to try to help MILLIONS of strangers get enough information to make good decisions. I think that's noble.

Noble and illegal...

What sort of society do we live in? What sort of society do we WANT to live in? :shk: