U.S. President stresses toward national security leaks

U.S. President stresses toward national security leaks

Obama and the media .. Signs of a long and tough battle

Richard McGregor in Washington

Bob Woodward was put potted flowers on the base of his window to be a reference to Mark Felt to meet during the investigation of the Watergate. After 40 years Jim Rosen used a more convenient method for the Internet age, is starlets mode (*) in electronic messages.

Rosen, senior Washington correspondents for Fox News Channel, is the latest news in the U.S. capital arrested in a wave of legal actions against persons because of leaking information related to national security.

The fact that Barack Obama's administration oversees these legal proceedings give this controversial matter texture painful for many of Obama's liberal supporters.

Obama, who was elected in 2008 amid strong reactions against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and because of his defense of the need to prosecute the perpetrators of the leaks, put himself in the circle of the new lights blunt and harsh.

There is in prison now two former officials Mdanan the serving Movernmathma, the first of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the second from the CIA CIA. If we consider the recent events evidence of what can happen, there will be more legal action - and prison sentences - because of allegations infusion, what is the stage for a long struggle between Obama and the main press.

And investigations about leaks are not new things in Washington, as well as the consequences that often come in its wake. The battle on the publication of the Pentagon Papers, a secret history of the Ministry of Defence about the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, the whole half to cut the Supreme Court continued to reverberate for many years.

Before not long, Taarki administration of President George W. Bush with the'' New York Times'' about publishing details of a secret surveillance program allows U.S. agencies to monitor domestic communications during the prosecution of the foreign terrorist threats.

But the White House did not oversee the issues of leaks as does the White House in the Obama era. Since 2008 the Ministry of Justice sent six cases to court, five of them under the anti-espionage law.

30-year-old. The government haunt us after the publication of a particular article, but it was limited to the press here or there, and never method is similar to the broad sweeping doing now''.

Leonard Downie, former editor of the'' Washington Post'', who is now a professor of journalism at Arizona State University, described the Obama administration as'' more stringent'' administrations since the Nixon administration's position on the leaks. But Obama, who promised to lead the'' more open and transparent administrations'' in American history, surpassed his predecessor Nixon.

The debate about the leaks - as well as information disclosed that the IRS America was targeting conservative groups, and the questions continued on the handling of the incident the U.S. Embassy in Libya, which claimed the lives of a number of deaths - depletes capital politically valuable in the early stage of his second term.

In the last month, said the Ministry of Justice, told the Associated Press that she secretly obtained phone records for 20 of the correspondents of the Agency in connection with an investigation about an article published by the Agency in March 2012 about the failed terrorist plot in Yemen.

The investigation was in the article about Yemen, one of the two investigations ordered them in the past year Eric Holder, the U.S. attorney who was appointed by Barack Obama. The second investigation, which runs in which the representatives of the Attorney General to each activity, news reports, mostly in the'' New York Times'', about the electronic sabotage the process led mostly by the United States against Iran's nuclear program.

Came the simple role of the revelation Rosen'' Washington Post'' that the FBI agent tried to enter your e-mail to the reporter as part of the investigation revolves around the leaking U.S. intelligence report on North Korea.

The testimony revealed in detail how the client Rosen prepared a potential source in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, following the usual methods used by spies leave when they want to prepare people to work with them.

He gave the reporter a name nom each and every one of them, where Liu is the name of Kim, and Alex is the name of Rosen. Because Rosen specialist and was interested in the subject of Watergate, has prepared a modern system along the lines of potted flowers for the connection. If you put one star in an electronic message to Kim, this means that there will be a meeting, and if you put two stars will not be there to meet you.

He did not Bob Woodward about the identity of Mark Felt, who worked until 1973 as co-director of the Federal Investigation, but after his death in 2008. Depending on the information that can be drawn, there was no notes of meetings and Woodward and Felt, despite doubts the White House in the era Nixon regarding Welt.

And there is nothing more than the difference between the investigation into leaks in the twenty-first century and the days of Watergate investigations.

There are electronic records reserved it encounters multiple that took place between Kim and Rosen via e-mail, and by phone records, and even the exact timing of movements of persons from the State Department on infusion alleged (all registered in تصريحهما security), according to the statement. When investigators began to search, it was not difficult for them to find traces connect Rosen Kim. (At the time Rosen was working in a small room, told reporters at the ministry).

Without electronic fingerprint, the FBI task was to investigate the alleged lane will be much more difficult. According to the statement, during the hours that followed to send the report for the first time the morning of the day of June, 2009, See 95 people on the report of the American intelligence about the reaction to North Korea on penalties, and that was before talking about Rosen on Fox.

The FBI used to benefit 2010 followed by the methods Rosen to prepare the client, even confirm that the reporter acted'' at least'' as'' assistant or instigator or a partner in the conspiracy'' with Kim.

He wrote the client, Reginald Reese, in his testimony:'' Since the beginning of their relationship, the reporter was asking Kim and use it and encourages it to disclose sensitive internal U.S. documents and intelligence about a foreign country. The reporter did so by using flattery and playing on the ego and snobbery Kim''.

Maybe Reese was just trying to strengthen his argument to ensure that the judge granted a court order to enter the e-mail, but published his testimony fired off alarm bells in the U.S. media, as well as in the White House.

At first refusal Jay Carney, Obama's spokesman, to comment on the Rosen case, except to repeat the words of flattery about the need to balance between press freedom and the protection of national security, but at the end of last week, Obama is on track.

In a speech at the University of National Security, to update the administration's policy on terrorism, Obama reiterated his intention to'' impose consequences on those who violate the law and violate their commitment to the protection of confidential information''.

At the same time demanded that Holder will review the guidelines of the Ministry of Justice investigations caused by correspondents and asked him to consult with media organizations in the process.

The intervention of this kind, even if the subject is vague words such as Obama's words, can be interpreted as a circular to the Ministry of Justice declined to prosecute journalists.

But it becomes difficult to reconcile this broad and emphasize the White House that the Justice Department is an independent agency, and that the implementation and conduct investigations sole responsibility of the ministry.

Surely it can not find the fingerprints of Obama anywhere in individual cases, it is also not the first president feels outraged by the leaks. So that some of the investigations that led to legal action in his administration began under President Bush.

Roderick says Thomas, a former lawyer with the Ministry of Justice, now heads the law firm's work in the area of ​​defense staff in crimes law firm Wiley'' Ryan'' in Washington:'' This type of investigation is not new, and did not just happen under the Obama administration'' .

Circular has led the sender in the aftermath of the events of 9/11 to the intelligence services and law enforcement to participate in the information with each other to increase the risk of disclosure of information.

As did the Internet, especially the'' insiders'', the site published an amazing amounts of documents and video clips secret government. He admitted Bradley Manning, who previously served with the U.S. Army in Iraq, pleaded guilty on some charges related to passing classified material to WikiLeaks''''.

Thomas says:'' Everyone these days can sit on the desk and pressed a word: Submit. The presence of a number of outstanding issues can be a deterring factor''. But former employees of the intelligence services say the uncompromising attitude of the Ministry of Justice is a sign of anger Obama Profile of leaks, and the wrath of a number of his colleagues in the administration.

Says Bruce Riedel, a former analyst at the CIA, he offers advice to Obama on Afghanistan and Pakistan, the first director of the Central Intelligence Agency to set Obama, Leon Panetta, heard a lot of people complain about the leaks when he arrived to the agency. When the message is moved to the White House the people Smaon found him. Riedel says:'' I think that the White House under Obama sent an early sign that he was ready to take a tough stance just about leaks than what was the former president''.

All are referred leaks of national security information to the Ministry of Justice and in accordance with the Protocol, detailing the type of information leaked. Often the actions of the referral itself secret. But what if the agency learned that their concerns will be taken seriously, they tend to send more detailed summaries and provide greater support to the representatives of the Attorney General, says ex-clients and lawyers at the Ministry of Justice.

According to Paul Pillar, a former analyst at the CIA:'' While the president says he wants more action, it probably will get more action''.

The extension shows the controls of the Ministry of Justice strict rules governing the call to journalists, or their records to testify in court, where required review Mkhaddmém for stand on access to relevant materials voluntarily.

Thomas says:'' when a representative of the Attorney General, there are certain groups of people, such as reporters, if you want to call to testify, there is a strict process to be followed within the Ministry of Justice''.

But the precautions that such thrown aside in the case of The Associated Press, using a loophole in the instructions allow the government to obtain records of journalists in cases where it believes that Call year, or early notification could jeopardize the investigation.

The impact of the leaks on both sides. Apart from the president sitting in the White House, officials depends on the bulletins are not intended for official registration information to detect when it fits their political purposes.

After the raid, which led to the killing of Osama bin Laden, which worked on polishing the qualifications of Obama on national security, hair and defense minister at the time, Robert Gates, outraged the appearance of the details of this process with a secret amount in the press to the point that he complained to the White House.

According to reporters, the Gates advice to Tom Donilon, the national security adviser, that he should adopt the White House,'' a new strategic approach to communications''. When asked Donilon what is this approach, Gates replied:'' Shut up''.

Kovac acknowledges that Obama and Bush before him, was dealing with the enemy'' not نعهده in our time'', and difficult to identify people who'''' intend to harm us.

He says:'' It is clear that the rules have changed regarding investigations about leaks, but no one was at least it's changed. Could make the argument for President this topic. But he clearly did not do it''.