Government Secrets

The Washington Post had a front-page story on Sunday detailing Bush Administration efforts to tighten up its leaks. The White House is threatening to lean on journalists and is starting to play hardball (not the Chris Matthews kind).

The Bush administration, seeking to limit leaks of classified information, has launched initiatives targeting journalists and their possible government sources. The efforts include several FBI probes, a polygraph investigation inside the CIA and a warning from the Justice Department that reporters could be prosecuted under espionage laws.

In recent weeks, dozens of employees at the CIA, the National Security Agency and other intelligence agencies have been interviewed by agents from the FBI's Washington field office, who are investigating possible leaks that led to reports about secret CIA prisons and the NSA's warrantless domestic surveillance program, according to law enforcement and intelligence officials familiar with the two cases.

Interestingly enough, they don't seem concerned with leaks outing the identities of CIA agents. In fact, they appear to be most worried about leaks of their own potentially illegal activity (so anybody leaking information about administration officials who leak the identities of CIA agents should maybe start watching their back). So they're starting to enforce the law to punish anyone who points out how the White House is breaking the law. That's a pretty sweet set-up if they can pull it off.