Last week we discovered that CIA employee Mary McCarthy was fired from the agency for having undisclosed contacts with the media.
After being told by agency interrogators that she may have been deceptive on one question during a polygraph, McCarthy did acknowledge that she had failed to report contacts with Washington Post reporter Dana Priest and at least one other reporter, said a source familiar with her account who asked not to be identified because of legal sensitivities. McCarthy has known Priest for some time, the source said.
But though there have been some high profile leaks, i.e. the NSA program and the secret redition sites in Europe, no has served any jail time.
Now it may be difficult to find the leaker, but it sure as hell is easy to find the reporter who leaked the information. Hell, one got themselves a Pulitzer prize for reporting on those secret CIA rendtition sites. In fact, that reporter was none other than the aforementioed Dana Priest.
So leaks of classififed material may get you fired, or it may get you a Pulitzer but it won't get you jail time.
In America.
But in Denmark
The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the criminal charges brought against two Danish reporters accused of leaking state secrets by publishing intelligence reports that questioned the existence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Danish journalists say it is the first time that reporters have been indicted in their country for leaking state secrets, Agence France-Presse reported.
During the last Presidential campaign, Democrats were all about us being more like the Europeans. Well here's one area in which I agree.
The retort by the media is familiar
"Journalists have a duty to publish information of such obvious public interest, and should not be criminally charged for leaks from government agencies," said CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper. "We call on the state prosecutor to drop all charges against our colleagues Michael Bjerre and Jesper Larsen immediately."
Berlingske Tidende editor-in-chief Niels Lunde said the newspaper had the right to publish the classified information, and he expects his reporters to be acquitted, the state broadcaster Danmarks Radio reported.
Yeah, well. If I had my way, Ms Priest and her compatriots at the New York Times would be in jail. And the anti-Bush crew within the CIA should be outted and accomodations should be afforded them right next to their journalist team mates.
In the Hooscow.
