Published on May 14, 2013
The Daily Mail

• Department allegedly obtained records listing incoming and outgoing calls and duration of calls for more than 20 telephone lines used by journalists
• Lines included the main number used by reporters in the House of Reps press gallery and general AP numbers in Washington and New York
• The government would not say why it sought the records, from April and May 2012
• AP President Gary Pruitt has demanded the records be returned or destroyed claiming: 'There can be no possible justification' for such an intrusion

The Associated Press has accused the Justice Department of a 'massive and unprecedented intrusion' after it secretly obtained two months worth of reporters' telephone records, potentially identifying confidential sources.

The records listed journalists' incoming and outgoing calls, as well as the duration of each call, for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters, general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Connecticut, and the main number for AP reporters in the House of Representatives press gallery, according to attorneys for the AP.

In all, the government seized records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to AP and its journalists in April and May of 2012. The government would not say why it sought the records.

News of the probe into one of the largest news organizations in the world immediately sparked outrage among Republicans on Capitol Hill.

'The First Amendment is first for a reason,' Michael Steel, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, told MailOnline. 'If the Obama Administration is going after reporters’ phone records, they better have a damned good explanation.'

Justice: The Associated Press has accused the Justice Department of a 'massive and unprecedented intrusion' after it secretly obtained two months worth of reporters' telephone records, potentially identifying confidential sources.

A spokesman for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a Republican in Virginia, said the move is representative of a broader 'pattern of intimidation.'

'Whether it is secretly targeting patriotic Americans participating in the electoral progress or reporters exercising their First Amendment rights, these new revelations suggest a pattern of intimidation by the Obama Administration,' Doug Heye said.
The American Civil Liberties Union was equally critical.

'Obtaining a broad range of telephone records in order to ferret out a government leaker is an unacceptable abuse of power,' said Ben Wizner, director of the ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. 'Freedom of the press is a pillar of our democracy, and that freedom often depends on confidential communications between reporters and their sources.'

White House spokesman Jay Carney initially declined a request for comment on this story and referred all further inquiries to the Justice Department. A couple hours later he released a statement saying, 'Other than press reports, we have no knowledge of any attempt by the Justice Department to seek phone records of the AP. We are not involved in decisions made in connection with criminal investigations, as those matters are handled independently by the Justice Department.'

'Any questions about an ongoing criminal investigation should be directed to the Department of Justice,' the statement added.

AP President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Pruitt said the government obtained information far beyond anything that could be justified by any specific investigation. He demanded the return of the phone records and destruction of all copies.

'There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters,' Pruitt wrote in a letter of protest to Attorney General Eric Holder. 'These records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to AP's newsgathering operations, and disclose information about AP's activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know.'

The exact number of journalists who used the phone lines during that period is unknown but more than 100 journalists work in the offices whose phone records were targeted on a wide array of stories about government and other matters.
U.S. officials have previously said in public testimony that the U.S. attorney in Washington is conducting a criminal investigation into who may have leaked information contained in a May 7, 2012, AP story about a foiled terror plot.

Outraged: AP President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Pruitt, pictured, said the government sought and obtained information far beyond anything that could be justified by any specific investigation

The story disclosed details of a CIA operation in Yemen that stopped an al-Qaida plot in the spring of 2012 to detonate a bomb on an airplane bound for the United States.
In testimony in February, CIA Director John Brennan noted that the FBI had questioned him about whether he was AP's source, which he denied. He called the release of the information to the media about the terror plot an 'unauthorized and dangerous disclosure of classified information.'

Prosecutors have sought phone records from reporters before, but the seizure of records from such a wide array of AP offices, including general AP switchboards numbers and an office-wide shared fax line, is unusual and largely unprecedented.

In the letter notifying the AP received Friday, the Justice Department offered no explanation for the seizure, according to Pruitt's letter and attorneys for the AP. The records were presumably obtained from phone companies earlier this year although the government letter did not explain that. None of the information provided by the government to the AP suggested the actual phone conversations were monitored.
The Justice Department released a statement on Monday defending its actions.

'We take seriously our obligations to follow all applicable laws, federal regulations, and Department of Justice policies when issuing subpoenas for phone records of media organizations,' the statement reads. 'Those regulations require us to make every reasonable effort to obtain information through alternative means before even considering a subpoena for the phone records of a member of the media.'
'Because we value the freedom of the press, we are always careful and deliberative in seeking to strike the right balance between the public interest in the free flow of information and the public interest in the fair and effective administration of our criminal laws.'

Among those whose phone numbers were obtained were five reporters and an editor who were involved in the May 7, 2012 story.

The Obama administration has aggressively investigated disclosures of classified information to the media and has brought six cases against people suspected of leaking classified information, more than under all previous presidents combined.

Justice Department published rules require that subpoenas of records from news organizations must be personally approved by the attorney general but it was not known if that happened in this case.

The letter notifying AP that its phone records had been obtained though subpoenas was sent Friday by Ronald Machen, the U.S. attorney in Washington.

Spokesmen in Machen's office and at the Justice Department had no immediate comment on Monday.

Records: In all, the government seized records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to AP and its journalists in April and May of 2012. The government would not say why it sought the records (stock photo)

The Justice Department lays out strict rules for efforts to get phone records from news organizations. A subpoena can only be considered after 'all reasonable attempts' have been made to get the same information from other sources, the rules say. It was unclear what other steps, in total, the Justice Department has taken to get information in the case.

A subpoena to the media must be 'as narrowly drawn as possible' and 'should be directed at relevant information regarding a limited subject matter and should cover a reasonably limited time period,' according to the rules.

The reason for these constraints, the department says, is to avoid actions that 'might impair the news gathering function' because the government recognizes that 'freedom of the press can be no broader than the freedom of reporters to investigate and report the news.'

News organizations normally are notified in advance that the government wants phone records and enter into negotiations over the desired information. In this case, however, the government, in its letter to the AP, cited an exemption to those rules that holds that prior notification can be waived if such notice, in the exemption's wording, might 'pose a substantial threat to the integrity of the investigation.'

Intrusion: The AP has sent a letter of protest to Attorney General Eric Holder, pictured It is unknown whether a judge or a grand jury signed off on the subpoenas

The May 7, 2012, AP story that disclosed details of the CIA operation in Yemen to stop an airliner bomb plot occurred around the one-year anniversary of the May 2, 2011, killing of Osama bin Laden.

The plot was significant because the White House had told the public it had 'no credible information that terrorist organizations, including al-Qaida, are plotting attacks in the U.S. to coincide with the (May 2) anniversary of bin Laden's death.'

The AP delayed reporting the story at the request of government officials who said it would jeopardize national security. Once government officials said those concerns were allayed, the AP disclosed the plot because officials said it no longer endangered national security. The Obama administration, however, continued to request that the story be held until the administration could make an official announcement.

The May 7 story was written by reporters Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman with contributions from reporters Kimberly Dozier, Eileen Sullivan and Alan Fram. They and their editor, Ted Bridis, were among the journalists whose April-May 2012 phone records were seized by the government.

Brennan talked about the AP story and leaks investigation in written testimony to the Senate. 'The irresponsible and damaging leak of classified information was made ... when someone informed the Associated Press that the U.S. Government had intercepted an IED (improvised explosive device) that was supposed to be used in an attack and that the U.S. Government currently had that IED in its possession and was analyzing it,' he said.

He also defended the White House's plan to discuss the plot immediately afterward. 'Once someone leaked information about interdiction of the IED and that the IED was actually in our possession, it was imperative to inform the American people consistent with Government policy that there was never any danger to the American people associated with this al-Qa'ida plot,' Brennan told senators.

Source: The Daily Mail