May 15, 2006

Authorities Using Phone Records to Find Leaks to Reporters

Brian Ross and Richard Esposito of ABC News reports the federal government is tracking the phone numbers called by reporters:

ABC News does not know how the government determined who we are calling, or whether our phone records were provided to the government as part of the recently-disclosed NSA collection of domestic phone calls.

Other sources have told us that phone calls and contacts by reporters for ABC News, along with the New York Times and the Washington Post, are being examined as part of a widespread CIA leak investigation.

This is getting close to being Nixonian and impeachable. If the numbers are being tracked to find a leaker of classified information, fine. But if they're doing it to intimidate reporters then the administration has crossed an authoritarian line. Marshall Manson writes,

They’re simply doing what they’re supposed to do — keeping us all informed. That’s their job. And it’s an important one because only an informed population can prevent a government from drifting inexorably towards tyranny.

"Federal Source to ABC News: We Know Who You're Calling" [via OTB]