The Media and National Security (9/28/06)

The Washington Post publishes a story about secret CIA prisons, based on leaks of classified documents. The CIA employee suspected of leaking the documents is fired and faces possible criminal prosecution. The Post reporter wins a Pulitzer Prize.

After holding the story for a year, The New York Times, relying on leaks of classified information, reveals that the National Security Agency has been carrying out wiretaps, within the U.S., of international phone calls, without court approval. Critics call the program "unconstitutional" and "shocking," but the Administration claims the program was both legal and necessary, that appropriate members of Congress were informed of the program and updated on it periodically, and that its revelation in the press damaged its effectiveness and harmed national security.

The Times and several other papers, relying on leaks, publish a story revealing that the U.S. Treasury Department and other government agencies have been using an internet program that secretly monitors international banking transactions to track funds related to terrorism. Although the program is apparently completely legal, critics decry it as "an abuse of power." Administration officials claim that there have been "a number of very successful counterterrorism investigations that have had successful conclusions where this program was one of the key factors that lead to the successful conclusion of those investigations." The President blasts the media for publishing details of the surveillance program, calling it "a disgraceful move that did great harm" to America.

Press reports about prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib continue in the press for weeks, months, years, complete with lurid photographs, while stories about the brutal murder of a U.S. journalist or a human rights worker are seen no more after only a few days.

A New York Times reporter is imprisoned for months for failure to tell a Grand Jury her source for a story that was never written. Later it is revealed that the Special Prosecutor who subpoenaed her was aware at the time that no crime had been committed. A U.S. Court of Appeals later upholds a subpoena for the telephone records of the same reporter relating to a different story.

A classified National Intelligence Estimate is leaked to The New York Times, which, forty days before an upcoming election, publishes portions of it that cast doubt on Administration claims about the effect of the war in Iraq on the war against terrorism. In response, the President declassifies the entire "key findings" section of the Estimate, angrily claiming that the previously published portion gave a false impression of its conclusions.

The media and national security, that will be the topic of our IIF discussion tonight. The press claims to be acting in the public interest in keeping an eye on government. The government claims to be keeping secrets in the interest of national security. Tonight we will try to sort this all out for ourselves. Ably representing the media will be our guest, Judy Milestone, a retired Senior Vice-President for CNN.