June 2008

McClellan doubts Bush knew about CIA leak

A former Bush spokesman said Friday he did not think the president knew about the leak of a CIA agent's identity, but refused to give the same assurances about Vice President Dick Cheney. "I do not think the president had any knowledge" of the revelation of Valerie Plame Wilson's identity, Scott McClellan said at a House Judiciary committee hearing. "In terms of the vice president, I do not know." McClellan said the White House is still concealing information about its role in the leak of a CIA agent's identity. "This matter continues to be investigated by Congress because of what the White House has chosen to conceal from the public,"…..(CNN, 20 Jun 08)

FBI interviews of Bush, Cheney subpoenaed

A House committee subpoenaed yesterday records of the FBI's interviews with President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney during the investigation into the leak of a covert CIA officer's name. The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform demanded the documents from Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey days before former White House press secretary Scott McClellan is expected to testify about Cheney's role in leaking CIA officer Valerie Plame's identity to the news media in 2003…..(Baltimore Sun, 17 Jun 08)

Reporter Is Subpoenaed To Testify On Sources

A Washington Times reporter has been subpoenaed to testify in a California federal court next month about his sources for a 2006 article on a Chinese spying case in which he allegedly disclosed secret grand jury information. Lawyers for reporter Bill Gertz have moved to quash the subpoena, arguing that the May 16, 2006, article did not reveal information from a grand jury, but rather what prosecutors said in open court, according to a motion filed last week in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, Calif. The primary defendant in the case was Chi Mak, a Chinese-born engineer for a U.S. defense contractor who was convicted last year of conspiracy to export sensitive defense information and of being an unregistered foreign agent. He was sentenced to 24 years in prison, and four of his relatives pleaded guilty to related offenses……(Washington Post, 12 Jun 08)

Reporter Bill Gertz Subpoenaed to Testify on Sources

…While Mr. Gertz has been a prolific reporter of classified information for two decades and has even republished classified documents in his books, his current legal entanglement arises not from national security secrecy but from grand jury secrecy. A court found that Mr. Gertz had disclosed secret grand jury information pertaining to the trial of Chi Mak and others who were accused and later convicted of illegal exports of defense technology to China. “During the course of proceedings in this case, Washington Times reporter Bill Gertz authored a May 16, 2006 article that revealed secret information before a grand jury,” wrote Judge Cormac J. Carney in a May 1, 2008 Order (pdf)……(FAS, 11 Jun 08)

McClellan To Testify About CIA Leak

Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan has agreed to testify next week before the House Judiciary Committee about his assertions that top Bush administration officials misled him about their role in the leak of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson…The disclosure drew the attention of Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.). He has expressed particular interest in McClellan's assertion that he had been directed by then-White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. to vouch for Libby's lack of involvement, as he had for Rove……(Washington Post, 10 Jun 08)

Reporter Fights Court Order to Name Spy Sources

…Attorneys for the journalist, William Gertz of the Washington Times, filed a motion late yesterday asking Judge Cormac Carney to quash the subpoena he issued last month requiring Carney to appear next Friday in the judge's Orange County, Calif. courtroom to name his sources for a May 2006 article predicting an imminent new indictment in the case of a Chinese espionage ring involving an electrical engineer and his family. Judge Carney ordered Mr. Gertz to testify after a Justice Department investigation into possible violations of grand jury secrecy and illegal disclosures of classified information was unable to pinpoint the leaker. The unsuccessful probe was "comprehensive" and involved more than 500 interviews with potential leakers, the judge said in his order. The most straightforward argument the lawyers made on Mr. Gertz's behalf is that because his story predicted a revised indictment in the case the article did not, in a literal sense, disclose matters which had occurred before the grand jury……(New York Sun, 6 Jun 08)

Rep. Waxman seeks access to Bush, Cheney interviews on CIA leak

House investigators pressed their case Tuesday for access to interviews that a special counsel conducted with President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney in the CIA leak case…Waxman cited passages from the recent memoir of former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. McClellan wrote that he thought he had been deceived into telling reporters that then-White House aides I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby and Karl Rove were not involved in the episode. Aside from receiving assurances from the two men, McClellan described a meeting in which Bush and Cheney decided to have McClellan issue a special statement saying that Libby had no involvement. Libby was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in the case. Rove was not charged, but he told investigators that he had spoken with reporters about Plame……(LA Times, 4 Jun 08)

Waxman Seeks FBI's Leak Papers

The chairman of a House investigative committee yesterday asked for copies of the FBI's interview of Vice President Cheney in the Valerie Plame Wilson leak investigation to determine whether Cheney instructed his former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, to leak the CIA officer's name to journalists in 2003… While the FBI has provided the committee with reports on interviews with Libby and current and former administration officials including Karl Rove, Condoleezza Rice, Scott McClellan and Cheney aide Cathie Martin, any references in those reports to conversations with either Cheney or President Bush were redacted, according to Waxman. Citing a passage in McClellan's new book in which the former press secretary writes that "the president and vice president directed me to go out there and exonerate Scooter Libby,"…..(Washington Post, 4 Jun 08)

Federal judge orders reporter to disclose sources in China spy story
A federal judge in California subpoenaed a Washington Times reporter Saturday, ordering him to reveal the government sources he used for a 2006 story about a Chinese spy ring. Defense and national security reporter William Gertz cited unnamed US government sources in a May 2006 story, which reported that Justice Department officials had approved new charges and an indictment against Chi Mak [CI Centre materials; JURIST report], a Chinese-American engineer sentenced [JURIST report] in March for conspiring to smuggle sensitive naval intelligence data to China…..(Jurist, 2 Jun 08)

May 2008

Times reporter subpoenaed for sources

…Bill Gertz, national security reporter for The Washington Times, has been subpoenaed by a federal judge to reveal the confidential sources for a story he wrote more than two years ago about a Chinese spy ring in California. The story, "New Charges Expected in Defense Data Theft Ring," appeared May 16, 2006. Mr. Gertz quoted unnamed U.S. government sources as saying that senior Justice Department officials approved an indictment against Chi Mak, an engineer who worked for Power Paragon, an American defense contractor, charging him with conspiracy and "unlawful export of defense articles." Four of his relatives would also be charged, the story said. U.S. District Court Judge Cormac Carney has ordered Mr. Gertz to appear in his Santa Ana courtroom June 13 and has also requested such supporting documents as e-mails, files and correspondence regarding the case. Mak is already incarcerated, convicted last May of being an unregistered foreign agent who conspired to export sensitive details about American military technology to the People's Republic of China…..(Washington Times, 31 May 08)

Reporter Ordered To Testify About Sources

…Judge Cormac Carney, who sits in Santa Ana, Calif., has subpoenaed Mr. Gertz to testify on June 13 about his sources for a 2006 story in which he described new charges expected to be filed against an engineer who worked for American defense contractors, Chi Mak, as well as several of his relatives. New indictments were filed in the case, largely, but not entirely, as the article predicted. Mr. Gertz did not respond to an e-mail message last night seeking comment. A law professor who specializes in disputes involving the press said the case could escalate into a major First Amendment showdown with the prospect of jail time or large fines for Mr. Gertz…The subpoena to Mr. Gertz follows an investigation of the leak ordered by Judge Carney in response to a motion by Chi Mak's wife, Rebecca Chiu, who was also a defendant in the case. The leak probe, carried out by the FBI and prosecutors in Washington, was first reported by The New York Sun…….(New York Sun, 30 May 08)

Reporter subpoenaed in leak probe

…The newspaper's executive editor said in a report published Saturday that journalist Bill Gertz, the Times' national security reporter, should not have to testify in an a court case to determine who leaked information about a grand jury proceeding regarding Chi Mak, a former California engineer who was sentenced in March to 24 years in prison for spying for China. Gertz has been ordered to appear before U.S. District Court Judge Cormac Carney in Santa Ana, Calif., on June 13 to answer questions about where he obtained information published in a 2006 story about the busted spy ring that revealed grand jury-related details…..(UPI, 31 May 08)

Judge wants reporter to reveal sources in spy case

…Gertz cited U.S. government sources in a 2006 story saying that Justice Department officials approved an indictment against Tai Mak and that four of Mak's relatives would also be charged. Mak's attorneys had objected to Gertz's story, contending the government violated a federal rule barring federal officials from giving information about grand jury proceedings to outsiders. Carney ordered an investigation to determine who leaked the information. "We will be presenting our case to the judge and we remain hopeful that he will be receptive to the arguments we present to him in trying to preserve Bill's and the Times' First Amendment right to report the news and his other legal rights as well,"…..(AP, 31 May 08)

Investigators raid German telecom giant in spy probe

Prosecutors raided Deutsche Telekom's headquarters on Thursday in a probe into an escalating scandal that has seen Europe's biggest phone company confess to spying on journalists. "Since this morning there have been investigative procedures" at the Deutsche Telekom offices, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office in Bonn said. Deutsche Telekom was forced to concede at the weekend that it had hired an outside firm to track hundreds of thousands of phone calls by senior executives and journalists to identify the sources of press leaks……(AFP, 29 May 08)

Papers left at girlfriend's would have had classified details on key topics at NATO summit

The briefing books that Maxime Bernier abandoned at his ex-girlfriend's home were designed to prepare him for a crucial NATO summit, and as such, would have offered confidential insight into the war in Afghanistan, U.S. plans for a missile shield and efforts to expand the military alliance. These were key topics at the April summit of North Atlantic Treaty Organization leaders in Bucharest, and would have figured prominently in the briefing books for Mr. Bernier, along with analyses of the positions of other NATO allies. Failing to recover these documents for five weeks cost Mr. Bernier his job as foreign affairs minister. The error is a major blunder, because cabinet ministers are supposed to treat confidential documents like ingots of gold…….(Globe & Mail, 29 May 08)

Tough to believe documents were misplaced for 5 weeks

The Conservative cabinet minister leaned back wearily into the overstuffed lounge chair, flummoxed by the sad fate of politically deceased pal Maxime Bernier. The former Foreign Affairs minister will be missed as a crazily energetic force dominating an inner circle which usually just waits for direction from the powers above, sighed the minister. But the perplexing question swirling around even the Harper cabinet table now is how any of their kind could've misplaced a briefing book for five weeks…Bernier's bizarre document dropoff at Julie Couillard's home and her subsequent surrender of the NATO briefing book to unknown officials last Sunday is where the truth in this story seems to check out - and fails to check back in. The government continues, but cannot do so convincingly, to deny the possibility of a security breach, even though spy-worthy papers were in the possession of a woman with some rather shady biker gang pals in her past. As of her television interview on Monday night, she had not been interviewed by federal security forces to question her possible viewing, copying or distribution of the documents…….(CanWest, 29 May 08)

When secret documents are treated like car keys TheStar.com - comment - When secret documents are treated like car keys

…The litany of mind-boggling lapses included the theft of the "crown jewels" of the nation's spy service, CSIS, apparently by a trio of drug addicts in Toronto in the late 1990s. Predictably, investigations were announced. But apart from one lowly intelligence officer who was fired, no ministers or top spooks were held to account. (More on this later.) The Conservative party's rhetorical question carries particularly ironic overtones today in the wake of the sudden resignation of Maxime Bernier over a sheaf of "sensitive" documents that the calamity-prone ex-foreign affairs minister curiously left in his former girlfriend's home. Bernier appears to have treated the classified documents with the same consideration that many Canadians, including me, treat the whereabouts of their car keys; routinely leaving them in the most unlikely places…….(Star, 28 May 08)

Phone Giant in Germany Stirs a Furor

Germany was engulfed in a national furor over threats to privacy on Monday, after an admission by Deutsche Telekom that it had surreptitiously tracked thousands of phone calls to identify the source of leaks to the news media about its internal affairs. In a case that echoes the corporate spying scandal at Hewlett-Packard, Deutsche Telekom said there had been “severe and far-reaching” misuse of private data involving contacts between board members and reporters. The disclosure, which was prompted by a report on Saturday on the Web site of the news magazine Der Spiegel set off a storm of protest from privacy advocates, journalists, and labor representatives at the company…….(New York Times, 27 May 08)

Governor's office has no right to secrets

A committee of the Louisiana House of Representatives has struck a blow for freedom of information by ruling last week that there is no reason that more than 60 state agencies should be able to claim exemption from public records laws that are intended for the governor's office… Since 1940, when the Legislature first granted immunity for some of the governor's records, "the secrecy has grown exponentially," according to state Rep. Wayne Waddell, R-Shreveport, who introduced the legislation…..(Advertiser, 21 May 08)

British Press-Freedom Case Involves Anti-Terrorism Law

A high-level British court will hear arguments this week in a press-freedom case in which police are attempting to use anti-terrorism laws to force a journalist to turn over notes and other source material. Leading British journalists argue that the rare use of the laws in this way threatens the future of investigative journalism in Britain. Police maintain that they are simply following all leads as they investigate a man who has been involved in religious extremist activities. The case centers around Hassan Butt, 28, a former high-profile Islamic extremist in Britain who has since publicly renounced violence and now says he works to de-radicalize British Muslim youth…..(Washington Post, 21 May 08)

Europe, US Battle Swiss Bank Secrecy

After fighting Switzerland's banking secrecy laws for decades, European finance ministers are about to receive support from the United States. Investigations into major Swiss bank UBS and a proposed law against tax havens are ratcheting up pressure against the system……(Spiegel, 20 May 08)

Ex-ASIO officer accused of leaking top-secret Bali papers

A former ASIO officer copied top-secret information relating to the 2002 Bali bombings and gave it to his housemate to mail to the media, a court heard yesterday. The former officer, who cannot be named, is believed to be the first from ASIO to be tried under the domestic spy agency's own act for leaking classified intelligence information. He could face up to two years in jail if convicted. His friend, who also cannot be named, is also on trial for aiding and abetting the commission of the offence against section 18(2) of the ASIO Act 1979. Both men have pleaded not guilty. In his opening address to the ACT Supreme Court, Crown prosecutor Stephen Hall SC told the jury the friend sent three confidential ASIO documents to The Australian by express post from Batemans Bay on the NSW south coast…..(Australian, 19 May 08)

FBI search, leaked documents lead to renewed calls for ousting of Scott Bloch

…The Project on Government Oversight, a Washington-based watchdog group that has been calling for Bloch's removal for three years, released on Wednesday an internal OSC memo showing that Bloch repeatedly ignored the recommendations of a task force he had created to investigate sensitive and high-profile matters, and did not heed the group's warnings that he was demanding probes that were overly broad or outside OSC's jurisdiction. The document, POGO said, supported its theory that the OSC chief had sought "to create the appearance of a conflict of interest with an ongoing investigation into allegations that Bloch himself had engaged in misconduct."…..(Gov Exec, 8 May 08)

Grand jury documents on nuke weapons plant probe stay secret

…U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch released several documents and motions from the 1989 case Monday but not the sworn statements or a list of alleged misconduct. Some former members of the grand jury have alleged the Justice Department broke the law during the probe and cut a deal with plant's operator, Rockwell International, for an $18.5 million fine. Prosecutors have denied misconduct…..(AP, 6 May 08)

Vietnam-era 'Pentagon Papers' leaker's advice: Blow the whistle early

The man who leaked the classified military documents known as The Pentagon Papers during the height of the Vietnam War is encouraging today's would-be whistle-blowers to take a different course of action…The former Marine officer and military analyst was on duty in the Pentagon when North Vietnamese naval vessels allegedly fired on U.S. ships in the Gulf of Tonkin, resulting in congressional authorization for then-President Johnson to escalate U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Ellsberg says he was among those who had knowledge of a dispatch from one of the ships' captains, suggesting that "freak weather effects . . . and an overeager sonarman" may have erroneously accounted for reports of North Vietnamese torpedoes in the fall of 1964. Johnson nonetheless stuck by the initial account of the incident and by the end of 1965 the U.S. was fully ensconced in a ground war in Vietnam. Ellsberg said he has long regretted not informing Congress of the incomplete picture it was receiving from the Johnson administration about Tonkin…..(Salt Lake Tribune, 6 May 08)

Security of F-35 Jet Secrets Questioned

The technology going into the U.S. military's newest fighter plane may have been compromised by unauthorized access to facilities and computers that belong to BAE Systems, one the aircraft's builders, according to a report from the Pentagon's inspector general made public yesterday.  The report did not identify specific leaks, but it said "incomplete" Pentagon oversight may have increased "the risk of unintended or deliberate release of information to foreign competitors."  BAE, based in Farnborough, England, is one of two main subcontractors working on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and is building some of the plane's electronic and weapons systems and parts of its body. Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin is the lead contractor on the roughly $300 billion program….(Washington Post, 2 May 08)

April 2008

Leak Inquiry Said to Focus on Calls With Times

Former government officials have recently been called before a federal grand jury and confronted with phone records documenting calls with a reporter who covers intelligence issues at The New York Times, according to people with detailed knowledge of the investigation. A former official who was called before the grand jury in Alexandria, Va., said that he was shown extensive phone records that documented the date and duration of conversations with James Risen, a Times reporter in Washington, and that prosecutors were trying to identify Mr. Risen’s sources. Mr. Risen is fighting a grand jury subpoena for testimony about his sources for a 2006 book on the Central Intelligence Agency……(New York Times, 12 Apr 08)

CBI charge sheets RAW official who turned author

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) here Wednesday submitted in court a charge sheet against Maj. Gen. (Retd) V.K. Singh, former senior official in India’s external intelligence agency the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), for divulging classified information in his book released last year… The complaint has been registered under sections 3 and 5 of the Official Secrets Act for “wrongful communication of information” through his book “India’s External Intelligence: Secrets of RAW”. He has also been charged under Section 409 of Indian Penal Code (criminal breach of trust by a public servant)…….(Thaindian, 9 Apr 08)

More Lessons from Watergate

What is at stake in the debates over telecommunications company liability, and the foreign surveillance bill? If the plaintiffs suing the telecoms have righteous cases worthy of a judgments of liability, immunity might not be such a good idea. If not, the surveillance authority is arguably being delayed needlessly. The best answer to this question might come from Watergate and the abuses of the Nixon Administration. After all, American law is based on precedent, and the principle of stare decises. What does the precedent of the Watergate scandal indicate about telecom liability for national security cooperation today?......(Counterterrorism Blog, 8 Apr 08)