Attorney General Eric Holder this week defended the Justice Department’s secret subpoena of phone records from the Associated Press, saying the action was part of an investigation into a “very serious” leak that had “put the American people at risk.” The AP revealed that the government had earlier this year obtained at least two months of call records for over 20 office, home, and cellphone numbers used by its journalists.
The subpoena is reportedly linked to the search for an anonymous source behind a May 2012 AP report, which said that a CIA operation had thwarted a terrorist plot in Yemen to bomb a U.S.-bound airliner. The AP initially held the story at the White House’s request, but published it a day before it was due to be made public. Holder said he had recused himself from the case after being interviewed by the FBI about the leak.
Were Americans really at risk from this leak? said Conor Frieders-dorf in TheAtlantic.com. “I am deeply skeptical.” The AP withheld the story until “national security concerns had passed,” and CIA Director John Brennan has said that the plot posed no threat to Americans. Months later, Holder is still “vague and noncommittal” about exactly what this “serious” threat was, though some have suggested that the AP story signaled to al Qaida in Yemen that it had a spy in its midst. If the AP story really threatened national security, “why not tell us the particulars?”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Holder doesn’t have to, said Paul Campos in Time.com. Since the early days of the Bush administration, Congress and the courts have given the government “nearly unlimited power” to spy on and bully the Fourth Estate. Given what we know about this case, the Justice Department’s “fishing expedition” is something current law “allows the government to do.”
The AP called this an “unprecedented” act, said the Los Angeles Times in an editorial. “Sadly, that’s not true.” In fact, “retaliatory leak investigations and unjustified, open-ended searches” are a way of life for this White House, which has indicted more government officials for leaking information than all previous administrations combined. This dragnet mentality threatens the kind of “aggressive reporting that holds government to account.” Surely that’s the greater risk to American citizens.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
-
The final fate of Flight 370feature Malaysian officials announced that radar data had proven that the missing Flight 370 “ended in the southern Indian Ocean.”
-
The airplane that vanished
feature The mystery deepened surrounding the Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared one hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur.
-
A drug kingpin’s capture
feature The world’s most wanted drug lord, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, was captured by Mexican marines in the resort town of Mazatlán.
-
A mixed verdict in Florida
feature The trial of Michael Dunn, a white Floridian who fatally shot an unarmed black teen, came to a contentious end.
-
New Christie allegation
feature Did a top aide to the New Jersey governor tie Hurricane Sandy relief funds to the approval of a development proposal in the city of Hoboken?
-
A deal is struck with Iran
feature The U.S. and five world powers finalized a temporary agreement to halt Iran’s nuclear program.
-
End-of-year quiz
feature Here are 40 questions to test your knowledge of the year’s events.
-
Note to readers
feature Welcome to a special year-end issue of The Week.