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| Accidental path to record leak case |
| Accidental path to record leak cases under Obama
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| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
, 21-June-2012
5:25:17 AM |
| Under fire from Republicans who claim that the White House has leaked classified information to make him look tough, President Obama has pointed to his administration's unmatched record in prosecuting leaks.
The statistics are certainly on his side: six leak-related prosecutions in Mr Obama's first term, compared with three under all previous presidents combined. It is a record that has heartened security hawks while drawing criticism from advocates for whistle-blowing. But a closer look reveals a surprising conclusion: the crackdown has nothing to do with any directive from the president, even though he is now promoting his record as a political asset.
Instead, it was unplanned, resulting from several leftover investigations from the Bush administration, a proliferation of e-mail and computer audit trails that increasingly can pinpoint reporters' sources, bipartisan support in Congress for a tougher approach, and a push by the director of national intelligence in 2009 that sharpened the system for tracking disclosures
Even Mr. Obama's attorney general, Eric H. Holder Junior, whose Justice Department has pursued five of the six cases, was surprised by news reports pointing out that the number of cases was unprecedented, colleagues said. He has told associates that he has no desire for leak prosecutions to be his legacy.
"When we took office in January 2009, I don't think bringing a lot of leak cases was high on anyone's agenda," said Matthew Miller, who was director of public affairs at the Justice Department until July. "But then they came up one by one, and without anyone realizing it, we had set a record."
This month Mr Holder directed two United States attorneys to take charge of investigating the latest disclosures, on drone strikes, cyberwar and a foiled airliner plot by Al Qaeda's branch in Yemen. If the inquiries result in still more prosecutions,
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