The media and the public are aghast at the way the Obama administration has treated Fox News reporter James Rosen like a criminal, merely for reporting on North Korea using State Department sources.
The press gave White House spokesperson Jay Carney a hard time today. One question they seemed to miss, however, is why the Department of Justice has done nothing about the White House’s own security leaks.
Recall that less than a year ago, Democrats and Republicans were both alarmed by a series of leaks by the White House that were clearly intended to burnish President Barack Obama’s national security credentials.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, pointed the finger directly at the White House: ”I think the White House has to understand that some of this is coming from their ranks.”
Former aide to Jimmy Carter Pat Caddell even named the person who he believed was the likely source of the leaks: National Security Advisor Tom Donilon. And yet nothing–as far as we know–was done to investigate.
Arguably, the White House leaks were of far greater national security significance than Rosen’s reports. One leak took credit for a computer virus targeted at Iran’s nuclear centrifuges–and put Israeli officials at risk.
Yet the Obama administration criminalized the ordinary activity of journalism to pursue Rosen and his sources.
Arguably, the administration has also begun to criminalize the ordinary activity of governing.