I came across this story in the New York Times. The story pertains to the purported leak of the identification of a high level CIA operative leading up to the Iraq war. You may remember the story where the wife of former U.S. Ambassador Joe Wilson was outed as a CIA agent working the weapons of mass destruction angle on Iraq in a leak to syndicated columnist Bob Novak.
A judge has issued a court order to Time Magazine reporter Matthew Cooper and New York Times reporter Judith Miller as well as Time Magazine itself requesting that the source of confidential information used in the story in question (which came after Bob Novak’s leaked info story) be turned over to the court.
Time is standing on First Amendment claims and the reporters say they will go to jail before turning over confidential sources.
My question is, whoever said that National Security issues were the domain of free speech? I’m all for protected speech. But passing of national security information, and the identity and pontification on covert CIA operatives is a national security issue, is definitely not something that I would call protected speech. In fact, I venture to say that dispensation of national security information is treason, though the Constitution disagrees with me.
Update: In a rare display of wisdom, Time Magazine has agreed to turn over the subpoenaed documents.
Stumble it!
About the Author: Aaron Brazell is the lead editor of Technosailor.com and a social media expert. His passion is to see companies and individuals use the internet and web technologies wisely and effectively to promote their brands and companies. He is Business Development Manager for Lijit and he worked as Director of Technology at b5media from 2005-2008 and is currently an independent consultant.
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Breaking the cover of a CIA operative is treason and the individual should be charged and convicted if the evidence is there... Send them to jail... On another note... The actions and words spoken by many of the Democrat Party, such as Howard Dean and Dick Durbin concerning the military and our troops should be considered as giving aid and comfort to the enemy... There are too many Liberals who will say or print anything, whether it's the truth or a lie to hurt the Administration and our troops...
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