Gonzales to use "whatever means at your disposal" to

wiretap, follow, harass and investigate journalists

who have published stories about the administration's

illegal use of warrantless wiretaps, use of faulty

intelligence and anything else he deems "detrimental

to the war on terror."

Reporters for The New York Times, which along with

Capitol Hill Blue revealed use of the National

Security Agency to monitor phone calls and emails of

Americans, say FBI agents have interviewed them and

criminal prosecutors at the Justice Department admit

they are laying "the groundwork for a grand jury that

could lead to criminal charges,"

CIA Director Porter Goss told Congress recently that

"it is my aim and it is my hope that we will witness a

grand jury investigation with reporters present being

asked to reveal who is leaking this information. I

believe the safety of this nation and the people of

this country deserve nothing less."

As part of the investigation, the Justice Department,

Department of Homeland Security and the National

Security Agency are wiretapping reporters' phones,

following journalists on a daily basis, searching

their homes and offices under a USA Patriot Act

provision that allows "secret and undisclosed

searches" and pouring over financial and travel

records of hundreds of Washington-based reporters.

Spokesmen for the Justice Department and Department of

Homeland Security admit there are "ongoing

investigations" regarding publication of stories

"involving threats to national security" but will not

reveal what those investigations include.

In addition to using the USA Patriot Act to pry into

the lives of journalists, the Justice Department has

also dusted off a pre-World War I law to prosecute

people who receive classified information, although

the law was aimed at military personnel not civilians.

"This is the first administration that I can remember,

including Nixon's, that said we need to think about a

law that would put journalists who print national

security things up in front of grand juries and put

them in jail if they don't reveal their sources," says

David Gergen, who served as President Regan's director

of communication and also worked in the Nixon and Ford

White Houses.

Political scientist George Harleigh, who worked in the

Nixon administration, says such use of federal law

enforcement authority was illegal when Nixon tried it

and still so today.

"We're talking about a basic violation of the

Constitutional guarantee of a free press as well as a

violation of the rights of privacy of American

citizens," Harleigh says. "I had hoped we would have

learned our lessons from the Nixon era. Sadly, it

appears we have not."

In recent weeks, the FBI has issued hundreds of

"National Security Letters," directing employers,

banks, credit card companies, libraries and other

entities to turn over records on reporters. Under the

USA Patriot Act, those who must turn over the records

are also prohibited from revealing they have done so

to the subject of the federal probes.

"The significance of this cannot be overstated," says

prominent New York litigator Glenn Greenwald. "In

essence, while the President sits in the White House

undisturbed after proudly announcing that he has been

breaking the law and will continue to do so, his

slavish political appointees at the Justice Department

are using the mammoth law enforcement powers of the

federal government to find and criminally prosecute

those who brought this illegal conduct to light.

"This flamboyant use of the forces of criminal

prosecution to threaten whistle-blowers and intimidate

journalists are nothing more than the naked tactics of

street thugs and authoritarian juntas."

Just how widespread, and uncontrolled, this latest

government assault has become hit close to home last

week when one of the FBI's National Security Letters

arrived at the company that hosts the servers for this

web site, Capitol Hill Blue.

The letter apparently demanded traffic data, payment

records and other information about the web site along

with information on me, the publisher.

Now that's a problem. I own the company that hosts

Capitol Hill Blue. So, in effect, the feds want me to

turn over information on myself and not tell myself

that I'm doing it. You'd think they'd know better.

I told the company to send the letter over to my

lawyer.

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/blog/2006/03/bush_declares_war_on_freedom_o.html