Leaks and the Law [The case for prosecuting the New York Times]

Weekly Standard ^ | 6/23/06 | Gabriel Schoenfeld

[garjog]

""dealt with" severely"

What we need is to reserve a nice cell for them at Gitmo. They deserve it along with the other enemies of America.

[Christian4Bush]

bttt

[maine-iac7]

Prosecute if they fail to reveal the piece of government trash that let them in on the existence of the program.

Prosecute both. Otherwise, the papers will continue...

"There are some statutes on the books," he said, "which, if you read the language carefully, would seem to indicate that that is a possibility."

So, Gonzales - DO IT! How many more national security secrets need to be spilled before you act!!!

[maine-iac7]

Couldn't we only prosecute them if a war had been officially declared? Not sure how that works.

NO.1., National security is in force, war or not.

No 2 - Bush didn't go to war without the approval of Congress - why wouldn't it be a 'war'?

[maine-iac7]

fined not more than $10,000

That needs to be brought up to today's dollars....otherwise, it's moot - 10k is a drop in the bucket, not a deterrent

[pepsionice]

I think all you guys are going at this the wrong way. First..you should declare that any information within the NY Times is fair game, and proceed to hack into their server...this includes subscription info...employee info...etc. Second, you declare that the private lives of the reporters are now public knowledge and proceed to follow these guys and report via blogs what they are actually doing. If they are spending 3 hours every Thursday at Madam Lesley's apartment...then the public ought to get that info. Third...in terms of finanical gains and losses....its time to hack into their info and protray the actual finanical bottom line on the newspaper.

After a month of blogging this info and declaring nothing secret about the Times...they will start to fall back and regroup. They won't like having their private business hung in the sunshine or their personal lives displayed. And if this works so well with them...then we move onto Newsweek and Time. They all deserve a taste of reality.

[Gator113]

I want them locked up, driven into bankruptcy, including the loss of all personal assets and much, much worse.

We can't win the WoT until we deal with these traitors!!

[AmericaUnited]

Second, you declare that the private lives of the reporters are now public knowledge and proceed to follow these guys and report via blogs what they are actually doing. If they are spending 3 hours every Thursday at Madam Lesley's apartment

And state the reports with the most self righteous, pious attitude that you can put on, that the "public has a right to know who and what these people are. That the public demands it!"

[SkyPilot]

[SE Mom]

BTTT

[patj]

Am I the only one that thinks this was a trap that the NYT walked into? More fireworks to follow.

[mewzilla]

Question for the NYT's advertisers: Do you really want to aid and abet treason?

[Steel Wolf]

I am just sick about this. Why the heck was I in OIF? So the NY Times could sell me and my buddies out for "the public interest"?

I can't even tell you how down I am about this. So long as the government is going to slink away every time the NYT invokes the words 'public interest', we're screwed.

Every disgruntled or morally flexible worker in every classified program out there has a chance to take revenge against the system by selling out in a way that would be a death penalty case if he did it to a foreign government. What's worse is that the effect is the same, but instead of having to fear for his neck, he's lauded as a brave whistleblower and protected by the media establishment.

And the government sits by and watches helplessly.

If there's no penalty, and lots of gain, expect people to do it. If the government doesn't have the stones to stand up and take action against these people, I'd just as soon they stop crying about the leaks altogether.

[EBH]

I was just sitting here thinking about that...how would that work?

Would we sue them for some type of negligence?

I for one am to the point if our federal government won't enforce the laws again, I want to citizens to act. Protests etc. don't seem to phase them, letters to Congress doesn't move our representatives, Gonzales acts as if his hands are tied...well this is America right?

As a citizen my grievance over the failure of the government to protect national security secrets and the Times negligence at publishing them...? I've got have some sort of recourse somewhere? At least to put them on notice that their behaviors are dangerous etc.

[Steel Wolf]

So, Gonzales - DO IT! How many more national security secrets need to be spilled before you act!!!

He'd better hurry. We only have three left.

[Wristpin]

Wasn't Howard Dean throwing a hissy fit about Rove not being indicted last week? I seem to remember him complaining about leaking "National Security information during a time of war"

They need to do a better job of punishing these people...Still no frogmarching from the NSA leaks!

[EBH]

Correspondence to the Department, including the Attorney General, may be sent to:

U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

BY E-MAIL:

E-mails to the Department of Justice, including the Attorney General, may be sent to AskDOJ@usdoj.gov.

[Fury]

If there's no penalty, and lots of gain, expect people to do it. If the government doesn't have the stones to stand up and take action against these people, I'd just as soon they stop crying about the leaks altogether.

Best post of the thread. And you're right - either do something about it or shut up...

[mystery-ak]

I think the Times article quotes 20 anonymous sources in the Gov for this info.......that's 20 traitors in the Gov alone and not counting the traitors at the Times...

[Pietro]

the libs and the lamestream press are doing everything in their power to defeat the US. Very soon now I expect them to jump the shark and expose their purpose for everyone to see.

Its inevitable.