Congress' war on leaks

[Commentary] An angry Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is calling for a special prosecutor to investigate leaks he says are designed to portray President Barack Obama as a strong leader on national security issues. Without going that far, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, says that recent leaks "endanger American lives and undermine America's national security." She is proposing, among other things, that Congress provide "additional authorities and resources … to identify and prosecute those who violate various federal laws and non-disclosure agreements by revealing highly classified information." Although she did not advocate prosecuting journalists, the senator probably spoke for many of her colleagues when she told CNN that part of the problem was that "we have an enormously smart constituency of journalists … who piece things together."

So far most of the outcry has been directed at the administration, not the media, but in similar controversies in the past, critics have not been so discerning. So we would urge Congress — and the administration — not to criminalize the reporting of information that may have come into the possession of the media because a government official was indiscreet.