[Infowarrior] - Attorney Gen.: Reporters Can Be Prosecuted

[Richard Forno]

 Attorney Gen.: Reporters Can Be Prosecuted
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060521/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/prosecuting_reporters&
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Sun May 21, 3:31 PM ET

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Sunday he believes journalists can be
prosecuted for publishing classified information, citing an obligation to
national security.

The nation's top law enforcer also said the government will not hesitate to
track telephone calls made by reporters as part of a criminal leak
investigation, but officials would not do so routinely and randomly.

"There are some statutes on the book which, if you read the language
carefully, would seem to indicate that that is a possibility," Gonzales
said, referring to prosecutions. "We have an obligation to enforce those
laws. We have an obligation to ensure that our national security is
protected."

In recent months, journalists have been called into court to testify as part
of investigations into leaks, including the unauthorized disclosure of a CIA
operative's name as well as the National Security Agency's warrantless
eavesdropping program.

Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of
the Press, said she presumed that Gonzales was referring to the 1917
Espionage Act, which she said has never been interpreted to prosecute
journalists who were providing information to the public.

"I can't imagine a bigger chill on free speech and the public's right to
know what it's government is up to ‹ both hallmarks of a democracy ‹ than
prosecuting reporters," Dalglish said.

Gonzales said he would not comment specifically on whether The New York
Times should be prosecuted for disclosing the NSA program last year based on
classified information.

He also denied that authorities would randomly check journalists' records on
domestic-to-domestic phone calls in an effort to find journalists'
confidential sources.

"We don't engage in domestic-to-domestic surveillance without a court
order," Gonzales said, under a "probable cause" legal standard.

But he added that the First Amendment right of a free press should not be
absolute when it comes to national security. If the government's probe into
the NSA leak turns up criminal activity, prosecutors have an "obligation to
enforce the law."

"It can't be the case that that right trumps over the right that Americans
would like to see, the ability of the federal government to go after
criminal activity," Gonzales told ABC's "This Week."