Worse, said the German journalist, is the fact that "the German Chancellery is complicit in it. WikiLeaks to release new documents Gregg Leslie, the legal defense director for Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, described the spying as "not surprising, but nonetheless disappointing" in a statement Thursday. Der Spiegel on Friday reported on the event, writing that "it is becoming increasingly clear that representatives of the German government at best looked away as the Americans violated the law, and at worst supported them.
Heiss, Der Spiegel reported, confirmed that the CIA station chief had given him information about an alleged leaker in the Chancellery, but claimed the information had not been "concrete enough" to take any action.
The Chancellery representative present soon said further information could only be shared behind closed doors. A senior intelligence official told CNN that the "intelligence community, like all Americans, supports a free and robust press. The directive "affirms that all persons -- regardless of nationality -- have legitimate privacy interests in the handling of their personal information, and that privacy and civil liberties shall be integral considerations in the planning of U.
None of those statements suggest that the Obama administration necessarily sees anything wrong in spying on the free press of another country, and then using that information to inform the government of that country about officials who might be cooperating with the press.
Indeed, all of the statements suggest that the NSA can do whatever it wants if it believes national security to be at stake, a loose and amorphous principle that apparently includes interfering with a free press exercising its right to obtain information.
Without question, Der Spiegel has broken many stories that have frustrated the U. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. The United States opens the doors to a UN inquisition in favor of abortion and other progressive issues. Newsessentials Blog.
Obama to warn the Russian government not to interfere with the election process through hacking operations? Posted on June 4, 0. Like this: Like Loading Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:. Email required Address never made public.
Just last week, the Justice Department came under fire for seizing two months of phone records from the Associated Press -- action the president defended on national security grounds. President Obama said at a press conference last week, "I don't think the American people would expect me as commander-in-chief not to be concerned about information that might compromise their missions or might get them killed.
Critics say the administration has gone too far and that the Rosen investigation is more an effort to control information that's available to the public. Michael Mukasey, who served as attorney general under President George W.
Bush, told CBS News recently, referring to Rosen, "You couldn't claim with a straight face that disclosing whatever he disclosed in that story threatened the national security of the United States. He continued, "Something like this which intimidates both the reporter involved who has been designated a defendant or potential defendant and anybody who would talk to him, makes it a whole lot easier in the future for the government to control the narrative. Crawford added on "CBS This Morning," "Now, of course, media critics including the American Civil Liberties Union say no presidential administration -- not even the Nixon administration -- went after reporters with search warrants and secret surveillance, and journalists I'm talking to in Washington And that, they say, could be the real impact of this.
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