July 12, 2006
Crackdown on Leaks?
Peter Heokstra (R-MI) says the government is planning a crackdown on leakers of confidential information:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration is preparing a crackdown on intelligence leaks to the media and will try to pursue prosecutions in some recent cases, the chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on Tuesday.
Michigan Republican Rep. Peter Hoekstra also suggested some unauthorized leaks could have been deliberate attempts to help al Qaeda.
"More frequently than what we would like, we find out that the intelligence community has been penetrated, not necessarily by al Qaeda, but by other nations or organizations," he said.
"I don't have any evidence. But from my perspective, when you have information that is leaked that is clearly helpful to our enemy, you cannot discount that possibility," he added.
In recent months, two major intelligence operations were leaked to the media: the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program and the Treasury Department's tracking of international banking transactions.
The entire article is available here.
If this is true, then I say it's about time. The left shouldn't have a problem with such an investigation, since they were so upset about the "outing" of Valerie Plame. All leaks should be treated equally, no?
In fact, they will love the opportunity for reporters Eric Lichtblau and James Risen to go to jail rather than reveal their sources a la Judith Miller.
(And martyrdom is an excellent recommendation for a Pulitzer.)
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I hear the CEO of Huggies is slated to head the crackdown. Tee hee hee!
Posted by: Wyatt Earp at July 12, 2006 11:50 AM
