Sessions: DOJ reviewing policies on media subpoenas

Source: Politico | August 4, 2017 | Josh Gerstein and Madeline Conway

First Amendment advocates decry the attorney general’s comments as ‘deeply troubling.’

The Justice Department is considering making changes to its policies on subpoenaing news organizations as part of its crackdown on government leaks, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday.

At a news conference, Sessions said the Justice Department is cracking down on leaks coming out of the government. The department “has more than tripled the number of active leak investigations” since the end of the Obama administration in January, he said.

Much of the effort involves investigating and prosecuting leak suspects, he said, but another aspect is “reviewing policies affecting media subpoenas.” That review, he said, came at the suggestion of FBI agents, career investigators and prosecutors who have weighed in on the leak problem.

“We respect the important role that the press plays, and we’ll give them respect, but it is not unlimited,” Sessions said. “They cannot place lives at risk with impunity. We must balance the press’ role with protecting our national security and the lives of those who serve in the intelligence community, the armed forces and all law-abiding Americans.”

At the news conference, Sessions described the nation as having a problematic “culture of leaks” that must be stamped out. And he issued a blunt warning to “would-be leakers” of classified information: “Don’t do it,” or risk prosecution.

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First Amendment advocates responded with alarm to the talk of making it easier to pry into journalists’ phone records or emails or even, potentially, to prosecute them.

“The attorney general’s intent to revisit the guidelines is deeply troubling as is the frame he put around it today — that reporters are putting lives at risk. Journalists and news organizations have a long history of handling this information in a responsible way, working with government officials to evaluate potential harms, and taking steps to mitigate any damage when there is an overwhelming public interest in revealing it,” Reporters Committee Executive Director Bruce Brown said in a statement.

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