美国国家公共电台 NPR DOJ Announces Crackdown On Leaks As Intelligence Agencies' Calls For Probes Triple

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At the Justice Department today, authorities announced a crackdown on leaks of classified information. The attorney general and the director of national intelligence promised to stop the flow of national security secrets, and they signaled reporters could get caught in the crossfire 1. NPR's Carrie Johnson reports.

CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE 2: For months, President Trump 3 has demanded the Justice Department do more to stop damaging leaks of government secrets. And now embattled Attorney General Jeff Sessions has responded with this message.

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JEFF SESSIONS: We are taking a stand. This culture of leaking must stop.

JOHNSON: Criminal prosecutors 4 at the Justice Department don't spend their time investigating gossip and infighting at the White House. Instead they mobilize when sensitive national security information gets disclosed. According to Jeff Sessions, that's been happening too often. The attorney general says he's tripled the number of active leak investigations 5 this year, and he's directed U.S. attorneys to make those probes a priority.

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SESSIONS: So today I have this message for our friends in the intelligence community. The Department of Justice is open for business. And I have this warning for would-be leakers. Don't do it.

JOHNSON: Justice Department officials say career FBI agents and prosecutors have complained about how long it takes to investigate criminal leaks. So Sessions says authorities are reviewing policies about when they issue subpoenas 6 to news organizations and how many government officials need to approve them.

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SESSIONS: We respect the important role that the press plays, and we'll give them respect. But it is not unlimited 7. They cannot place lives at risk with impunity 8. We must balance the press's role with protecting our national security and the lives of those who serve in the intelligence community, the armed forces and all law-abiding Americans.

BEN WIZNER: Any administration wants to exert its influence to control the flow of information to the press and the public.

JOHNSON: Ben Wizner is a lawyer at the ACLU.

WIZNER: But never in the history of the country have we had threats this blunt against reporters for doing their job.

JOHNSON: Wizner says the Justice Department has never prosecuted 9 a reporter for publishing truthful 10 information. But he says...

WIZNER: We shouldn't feel confident that just because reporters have never been prosecuted for publishing government secrets, that it won't happen under this administration. If we've learned anything over the last six months, it's that we can't take anything for granted.

JOHNSON: The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press says the Justice Department announcement on leaks is deeply troubling. The group points out reporters already handle sensitive information in a responsible way, even working with government officials to protect lives before they publish anything. But to the U.S. intelligence community, leaks of national security secrets have real and negative consequences. Dan Coats is director of national intelligence.

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DAN COATS: They give our adversaries 11 knowledge of our activities. They impede 12 our ability to share information with our allies. There is also a real cost in dollars to compensate 13 for blown programs.

JOHNSON: Of course, Coats says, leaks sometimes spring from places no one would ever imagine.

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COATS: These national security breaches 14 do not just originate in the intelligence community. They come from a wide range of sources within the government, including the executive branch and including the Congress.

JOHNSON: And the Trump administration may come to find out as its predecessors 15 did that sometimes leak investigations wind up pointing at someone in the White House. Call it a case of unintended consequences. Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington.