[Infowarrior] - DNI summoned to Capitol Hill to discuss media leaks

[Richard Forno]

Intelligence director summoned to Capitol Hill to discuss media leaks

By Ed O'Keefe

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/2chambers/post/intelligence-director-summoned-to-capitol-hill-to-discuss-media-leaks/2012/06/06/gJQA4NbnJV_blog.html?hpid=z6

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. (Chip Somodevilla - GETTY IMAGES) Senior lawmakers plan to meet Thursday with the director of national intelligence to discuss concerns with recent leaks to news outlets regarding sensitive military and national security decisions.

National Intelligence Director James R. Clapper is scheduled to meet Thursday morning with members of the House and Senate intelligence committees to discuss “how we might stiffen up the process that’s used to investigate leaks,” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Wednesday.

In addition to the meetings and plans to hold subsequent hearings, the House and Senate intelligence committees announced Wednesday that they would draw up new laws against leaks of classified information.

In the most notable display of concern, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Tuesday that President Obama should appoint a special counsel to determine who is leaking the information. The Arizona lawmaker also charged that the leaks are designed to bolster Obama’s reelection campaign.

McCain and others cited several stories published in recent weeks that detail key national security decisions, including a New York Times story chronicling Obama’s approval of a “kill list” of suspected terrorists targeted with drone attacks, reports in the Times and The Washington Post regarding U.S. involvement in cyberattacks on Iran’s nuclear program and details in a new book by Newsweek special correspondent Daniel Klaidman about the administration’s deliberations on the detention of suspected terrorists.

Asked Wednesday about the concerns, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the Obama administration “takes all appropriate and necessary steps to prevent leaks of classified information or sensitive information that could risk ongoing counterterrorism or intelligence operations. Any suggestion that this administration has authorized intentional leaks of classified information for political gain is grossly irresponsible.”

McCain shot back Wednesday, charging that “what is grossly irresponsible is U.S. officials divulging some of the most highly classified programs involving the most important national security priorities facing our nation today.”

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) came to the White House’s defense, reminding reporters Wednesday that the reporters who have written those stories have said that they did not obtain their information in a coordinated fashion. Leaking national security information is a long, if upsetting, tradition, he added.

“If you pick up Bob Woodward’s books, and David Sanger is a damn good reporter, and David Ignatius and these guys, they get a lot of people talking about things that people shouldn’t be talking about,” Kerry said. “And it always amazes me.”

In response to queries from reporters, Kerry also said he questioned whether the New York Times should have published a story last week regarding Obama's decision to order cyberattacks on Iran's nuclear facilities.
“I personally think there is a serious question whether or not that served our interest and whether the public had to know,” Kerry said. “To me it was such a nitty-gritty fundamental national security issue. And I don’t see how the public interest is well served by it. I do see how other interests outside the United States are well served by it.”

Times managing editor Dean Baquet told 2chambers: “Our job is to report issues in the public interest, and this piece certainly meets that standard. As always with sensitive stories, we described the piece to the government before publication. No one suggested we not publish.”

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