Los Angeles Times staff writers Paul Richter and Greg Miller report in an article titled, “White House Moves to Tighten Loose Lips, Stop Leaks to Media.” Excerpt:
WASHINGTON –The Bush administration, until now considered one of the most effective ever at controlling information, is suddenly struggling to plug leaks that threaten political embarrassment and, officials say, harm to national security.
FBI investigators recently were interrogating the staff of a congressional panel probing intelligence failures of Sept. 11, and they may take the unprecedented step of using polygraph exams.
After a public display of anger by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Pentagon officials have begun an inquiry into who gave newspapers draft war plans for a possible attack on Iraq. And the State Department took the highly unusual step recently of detaining a reporter at its Foggy Bottom headquarters in an effort to find out who leaked a classified diplomatic cable that contained embarrassing information about the department’s visa program.
Top administration officials have said from the beginning of President Bush’s term that they are serious about enforcing the laws that make it a crime to leak classified documents. But not until now has it become fully apparent how vigorous they are willing to be.
The cases also demonstrate the limits on how tightly any administration can control information. Though Bush’s team is known for keeping the lid on–even Cabinet members were unaware of Bush’s plan to create a Department of Homeland Security–the president’s team has not been able to control everyone in the executive branch or in Congress.
And questions are beginning to arise about the wisdom of even trying to root out the sources of leaks.
William Kristol, who was chief of staff to former Vice President Dan Quayle, said the government should only mobilize against leaks that genuinely threaten lives and national security.
“There’s not much evidence that any of the leaks here are of that character,” said Kristol, now editor of the Weekly Standard magazine.
The Capitol Hill investigation was launched last month after news organizations, citing congressional sources, disclosed contents of a classified briefing by the ultra-secret National Security Agency.
In closed-door testimony, NSA officials reportedly acknowledged that the agency had intercepted Al Qaeda messages Sept. 10 saying “tomorrow is zero day” and “the match begins tomorrow,” but had not translated the messages from Arabic until Sept. 12. Within hours of the officials’ testimony, those messages were being reported on television and on the Internet.
Angered by the disclosure, Vice President Dick Cheney called the chairmen of the House and Senate intelligence committees, demanding a crackdown. The lawmakers, Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and Rep. Porter J. Goss (R-Fla.), responded by sending a letter to Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft inviting an inquiry.
Among the questions staff members faced was whether they would be willing to submit to polygraph tests, according to one aide.