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Blaming the messenger

It takes a certain audacity to constantly blame the messenger for your own missteps and embarrassments, but the Bush administration has raised this to an art form.

Following the revelations published by the New York Times last month that the National Security Agency was spying on Americans without court approval, the Justice Department announced it would open a criminal investigation into the source of the leak. The department is apparently uninterested in what is widely viewed as illegal actions by the president, who authorized the warrantless surveillance. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales instead will use the substantial resources of his department to ferret out the courageous insider or insiders who spoke with the press.

Though it has not yet announced a criminal probe, the department also is looking into the leak connected to a report by the Washington Post on the secret CIA prisons. The Post described a chain of prisons located in Eastern Europe and other parts of the world, where terror suspects were brought to be harshly interrogated. That disclosure set off a storm of protest around the world, particularly among our European allies. The international outrage probably helped spur the president to reluctantly sign the legislation that included Sen. John McCain's antitorture provision. But rather than promise that any so-called "black sites" would be closed and all "ghost detainees" would be accounted for forthwith, the department inquiry is focused on who provided the information to the media.

The Bush administration has been one of the most secretive on record. The American people have a right to know what their government is doing in their name, and since the administration and Republican-controlled Congress have been unwilling to keep the people apprised, the job falls to the media.

Following the revelation s last month that the National Security Agency was spying on Americans without court approval, the Justice Department announced it would open a criminal investigation into the source of the leak.

The danger of these leak probes goes beyond intimidating government insiders into silence. Just as we saw from the investigation into the leak surrounding the disclosure of Valerie Plame as a CIA agent, journalists called upon by the courts to disclose their sources may choose jail instead. The NSA story is of much greater public import than the Plame matter, making it far less likely that anyone would cooperate with federal prosecutors. That means New York Times reporters, editors and even the publisher could soon face the prospect of imprisonment. Solid investigative reporting on government wrongdoing could be snuffed out and deemed too risky for reporters and their employers. A vital check on the power of government would be neutered.

[Last modified January 17, 2006, 01:25:19]