Tracing journalists calls

last updated 8 January 2015

Washington, D.C.

The FBI has been tracing reporters’ phone calls as part of an investigation into classified information leaks, ABC News reported this week. The network said records of the calls made by two of its reporters, along with reporters from The New York Times and The Washington Post, were obtained in connection with an investigation into leaks about the CIA’s use of overseas prisons. Under Justice Department regulations, prosecutors must get a subpoena to receive a journalist’s phone records, plus inform the news organization. None of the three news organizations have been told of any subpoenas. However, under the Patriot Act, the government can obtain certain records by using “national security letters” instead of subpoenas. FBI spokesman Bill Carter would not confirm the ABC report, but said that any such records would have been collected “through established legal process.”