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Bush Declares War On Freedom Of The Press
Doug Thompson
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