... without AP.
-Deb
speaking of cr{AP]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/government-subpoenas-obtains-wide-set-of-ap-phone-records-in-investigation/2013/05/13/cec4065c-bc0a-11e2-b537-ab47f0325f7c_story.html
Government obtains wide set of Associated Press phone records in investigation,
using subpoena
By Associated Press, Updated: Monday, May 13, 4:27 PM
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone
records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news
cooperative’s top executive called a “massive and unprecedented intrusion” into
how news organizations gather the news.
The records obtained by the Justice Department listed outgoing calls for the
work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters, for general AP office
numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn., and for the main number
for the AP in the House of Representatives press gallery, according to
attorneys for the AP. It was not clear if the records also included incoming
calls or the duration of the calls.
In all, the government seized the records for more than 20 separate telephone
lines assigned to AP and its journalists in April and May of 2012. The exact
number of journalists who used the phone lines during that period is unknown,
but more than 100 journalists work in the offices where phone records were
targeted, on a wide array of stories about government and other matters.
In a letter of protest sent to Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday, AP
President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Pruitt said the government sought
and obtained information far beyond anything that could be justified by any
specific investigation. He demanded the return of the phone records and
destruction of all copies.
“There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the
telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters. These
records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources across all
of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period,
provide a road map to AP’s newsgathering operations and disclose information
about AP’s activities and operations that the government has no conceivable
right to know,” Pruitt said.
The government would not say why it sought the records. Officials have
previously said in public testimony that the U.S. attorney in Washington is
conducting a criminal investigation into who may have provided information
contained in a May 7, 2012, AP story about a foiled terror plot. The story
disclosed details of a CIA operation in Yemen that stopped an al-Qaida plot in
the spring of 2012 to detonate a bomb on an airplane bound for the United
States.
In testimony in February, CIA Director John Brennan noted that the FBI had
questioned him about whether he was AP’s source, which he denied. He called the
release of the information to the media about the terror plot an “unauthorized
and dangerous disclosure of classified information.”
Prosecutors have sought phone records from reporters before, but the seizure of
records from such a wide array of AP offices, including general AP switchboards
numbers and an office-wide shared fax line, is unusual.
In the letter notifying the AP, which was received Friday, the Justice
Department offered no explanation for the seizure, according to Pruitt’s letter
and attorneys for the AP. The records were presumably obtained from phone
companies earlier this year although the government letter did not explain
that. None of the information provided by the government to the AP suggested
the actual phone conversations were monitored.
Among those whose phone numbers were obtained were five reporters and an editor
who were involved in the May 7, 2012, story.
The Obama administration has aggressively investigated disclosures of
classified information to the media and has brought six cases against people
suspected of providing classified information, more than under all previous
presidents combined.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the investigative House Oversight and
Government Reform Committee, said on CNN, “They had an obligation to look for
every other way to get it before they intruded on the freedom of the press.”
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in
an emailed statement: “The burden is always on the government when they go
after private information, especially information regarding the press or its
confidential sources. ... On the face of it, I am concerned that the government
may not have met that burden. I am very troubled by these allegations and want
to hear the government’s explanation.”
The American Civil Liberties Union said the use of subpoenas for a broad swath
of records has a chilling effect both on journalists and whistleblowers who
want to reveal government wrongdoing. “The attorney general must explain the
Justice Department’s actions to the public so that we can make sure this kind
of press intimidation does not happen again,” said Laura Murphy, the director
of ACLU’s Washington legislative office.
Rules published by the Justice Department require that subpoenas of records of
news organizations must be personally approved by the attorney general, but it
was not known if that happened in this case. The letter notifying AP that its
phone records had been obtained through subpoenas was sent Friday by Ronald
Machen, the U.S. attorney in Washington.
William Miller, a spokesman for Machen, said Monday that in general the U.S.
attorney follows “all applicable laws, federal regulations and Department of
Justice policies when issuing subpoenas for phone records of media
organizations.” But he would not address questions about the specifics of the
AP records. “We do not comment on ongoing criminal investigations,” Miller said
in an email.
The Justice Department lays out strict rules for efforts to get phone records
from news organizations. A subpoena can be considered only after “all
reasonable attempts” have been made to get the same information from other
sources, the rules say. It was unclear what other steps, in total, the Justice
Department might have taken to get information in the case.
A subpoena to the media must be “as narrowly drawn as possible” and “should be
directed at relevant information regarding a limited subject matter and should
cover a reasonably limited time period,” according to the rules.
The reason for these constraints, the department says, is to avoid actions that
“might impair the news gathering function” because the government recognizes
that “freedom of the press can be no broader than the freedom of reporters to
investigate and report the news.”
News organizations normally are notified in advance that the government wants
phone records and then they enter into negotiations over the desired
information. In this case, however, the government, in its letter to the AP,
cited an exemption to those rules that holds that prior notification can be
waived if such notice, in the exemption’s wording, might “pose a substantial
threat to the integrity of the investigation.”
It is unknown whether a judge or a grand jury signed off on the subpoenas.
The May 7, 2012, AP story that disclosed details of the CIA operation in Yemen
to stop an airliner bomb plot occurred around the one-year anniversary of the
May 2, 2011, killing of Osama bin Laden.
The plot was significant both because of its seriousness and also because the
White House previously had told the public it had “no credible information that
terrorist organizations, including al-Qaida, are plotting attacks in the U.S.
to coincide with the (May 2) anniversary of bin Laden’s death.”
The AP delayed reporting the story at the request of government officials who
said it would jeopardize national security. Once officials said those concerns
were allayed, the AP disclosed the plot, though the Obama administration
continued to request that the story be held until the administration could make
an official announcement.
The May 7 story was written by reporters Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman with
contributions from reporters Kimberly Dozier, Eileen Sullivan and Alan Fram.
They and their editor, Ted Bridis, were among the journalists whose April-May
2012 phone records were seized by the government.
Brennan talked about the AP story and investigation in written testimony to the
Senate. “The irresponsible and damaging leak of classified information was made
... when someone informed The Associated Press that the U.S. government had
intercepted an IED (improvised explosive device) that was supposed to be used
in an attack and that the U.S. government currently had that IED in its
possession and was analyzing it,” he wrote.
He also defended the White House decision to discuss the plot afterward. “Once
someone leaked information about interdiction of the IED and that the IED was
actually in our possession, it was imperative to inform the American people
consistent with government policy that there was never any danger to the
American people associated with this al-Qaida plot,” Brennan told senators.
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