Reporting of NSA Leaks Could Lead to Prosecution

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said that The New York Times journalists could be prosecuted for publishing classified information from leaks to the paper concerning the National Security Agency’s surveillance of domestic and international phone calls, The Washington Post reports.

According to the article, Gonzales did not mention any specific information about the investigation of the reporters on ABC’s television talk show This Week, but he did refer to statutes still on the books, specifically the 1917 Espionage Act, which made it a crime for an unauthorized person to receive national defense information and transmit it to others.

Yesterday, Gonzales told the press, “I understand very much the role that the press plays in our society, the protection under the First Amendment we want to promote and respect … but it can’t be the case that that right trumps over the right that Americans would like to see, the ability of the federal government to go after criminal activity.”

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By Paul Kerstein