I dont even know what to say about this
May. 16th, 2006 11:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
johnridleyIf even partially true, this is unconscionable. I\'m starting to believe that this administration will stop at **nothing**. We must have a free press, especially with an administration like this. But of course, they know that...
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/
Brian Ross and Richard Esposito Report:
A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we (Brian Ross and Richard Esposito) call in an effort to root out confidential sources.
\"It\'s time for you to get some new cell phones, quick,\" the source told us in an in-person conversation.
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.
One former official was asked to sign a document stating he was not a confidential source for New York Times reporter James Risen.
Our reports on the CIA\'s secret prisons in Romania and Poland were known to have upset CIA officials. The CIA asked for an FBI investigation of leaks of classified information following those reports.
People questioned by the FBI about leaks of intelligence information say the CIA was also disturbed by ABC News reports that revealed the use of CIA predator missiles inside Pakistan.
Under Bush Administration guidelines, it is not considered illegal for the government to keep track of numbers dialed by phone customers.
The official who warned ABC News said there was no indication our phones were being tapped so the content of the conversation could be recorded.
A pattern of phone calls from a reporter, however, could provide valuable clues for leak investigators.
(sorry about the backslashed quotes, I\'m posting via a proxy)
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/
Brian Ross and Richard Esposito Report:
A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we (Brian Ross and Richard Esposito) call in an effort to root out confidential sources.
\"It\'s time for you to get some new cell phones, quick,\" the source told us in an in-person conversation.
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.
One former official was asked to sign a document stating he was not a confidential source for New York Times reporter James Risen.
Our reports on the CIA\'s secret prisons in Romania and Poland were known to have upset CIA officials. The CIA asked for an FBI investigation of leaks of classified information following those reports.
People questioned by the FBI about leaks of intelligence information say the CIA was also disturbed by ABC News reports that revealed the use of CIA predator missiles inside Pakistan.
Under Bush Administration guidelines, it is not considered illegal for the government to keep track of numbers dialed by phone customers.
The official who warned ABC News said there was no indication our phones were being tapped so the content of the conversation could be recorded.
A pattern of phone calls from a reporter, however, could provide valuable clues for leak investigators.
(sorry about the backslashed quotes, I\'m posting via a proxy)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-05-16 03:33 pm (UTC)Anyway, an administration vigorously pursuing (and dissuading) leakers is old news to seasoned reporters. Any administration is going to use all tools at their disposal. We rely on them to use useful *and* legal tools.
An open question here - since the NSA has had a significant fraction of all phone records since 2001, we should have already seen an effect. Unusual numbers of generals, administrators, analysts, etc should have been found out by now and charged (or at least "taken into custody"). I don't see this, so I'm left to postulate:
1.) Using this DB for leakers doesn't work - too many false positives to be useful
2.) So instead, it's being used as an additional method to scare leakers and reporters
This does not diminish the real fear the DB will be abused in other ways, but I think the reporter angle is overstated. For now.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-16 07:06 pm (UTC)