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White House: Prosecution Not Always The Best Way To Address Leaks

White House Makes Major Shift On Leak Prosecution
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By 

Senior Justice Reporter, HuffPost

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WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama, who has overseen a record number of leak prosecutions during his time in office, has directed his team to look into alternative ways to crack down on leaks without bringing criminal charges, a White House spokesman told The Huffington Post Friday.

After the Justice Department issued a new report on Friday laying out guidelines for investigating leaks to the media, White House spokesman Matt Lehrich said the administration believes that pursuing a criminal investigation and prosecution is “not always the most efficient and effective way to address leaks of classified information. He suggested withdrawing security clearances and imposing other administrative sanctions could suffice in certain cases.

“The President agrees with the Justice Department’s recommendation and has directed his team to explore how the Administration could more effectively use alternatives in appropriate cases,” Lehrich told HuffPost.

DOJ’s report is available here. The full statement from Lehrich:

“The President appreciates the Justice Department’s work to revise their guidelines, and he believes this report is an important step towards finding the balance between dealing with dangerous leaks of classified national security information and protecting the rights of journalists to freely gather and report the news. He also continues to believe that Congress should quickly pass media shield legislation and looks forward to working with them to do so.

“Additionally, as the Justice Department states in its report, pursuing a criminal investigation and prosecution is not always the most efficient and effective way to address leaks of classified information. There are circumstances in which leaks are better addressed through administrative means, such as withdrawal of security clearances or imposition of other sanctions. The President agrees with the Justice Department’s recommendation and has directed his team to explore how the Administration could more effectively use alternatives in appropriate cases.”

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Before You Go

Guantanamo Bay Revelations From WikiLeaks
Abuse Of Prisoners (01 of09)
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As the New York Times reports, Mohammed Qahtani -- a Saudi believed to have been an intended participant in the Sept. 11 attacks -- was subject to coercive questioning and other abuses during his interrogation. The cables describe Qahtani as being leashed like a dog, sexually humiliated and forced to urinate on himself. His file says, "Although publicly released records allege detainee was subject to harsh interrogation techniques in the early stages of detention," his confessions "appear to be true and are corroborated in reporting from other sources." (credit:Getty )
Arbitrary Nature Of Prison System (02 of09)
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As Le Monde is reporting, one "low-value" Iranian-Catholic detainee was kept in Guantanamo even after being deemed ready for release -- given his "cooperative nature" and in the interest of "possible financing relations" between Al Qaeda and traffickers. According to the cables, Abdul Majid Muhammed was deemed fit for release in 2002: "The detainee is not affiliated with Al Qaeda or the Taliban. He was involved in drug trafficking. It is unlikely that he represents a risk for the U.S. or its allies." (credit:Getty )
High-Profile Detainee (03 of09)
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An Al Jazeera journalist was reportedly held at Guantanamo Bay for six years partially so he could be interrogated about the network Sami al-Hajj, a Sudanese national and Al Jazeera cameraman, was captured in Pakistan in late 2001. Though he was never convicted or even tried of any terrorist ties, al-Hajj was held until 2008 because interrogators wanted to find out more about "the al-Jazeera news network's training programme, telecommunications equipment, and newsgathering operations in Chechnya, Kosovo and Afghanistan, including the network's acquisition of a video of UBL [Osama bin Laden] and a subsequent interview with UBL," according to the cables. (credit:Getty )
Violent Threats Against Captors (04 of09)
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Some detainees are described as ruthlessly violent in the documents. As the New York Times reports, one detainee said "he would like to tell his friends in Iraq to find the interrogator, slice him up, and make a shwarma (a type of sandwich) out of him, with the interrogator's head sticking out of the end of the shwarma." Another "threatened to kill a U.S. service member by chopping off his head and hands when he gets out," and informed a guard that "he will murder him and drink his blood for lunch. Detainee also stated he would fly planes into houses and prayed that President Bush would die." (credit:Getty )
New Details On Post-9/11 Al Qaeda Whereabouts (05 of09)
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As the Washington Postreports, the documents describe a major gathering of some of Al Qaeda's most senior operatives in early December 2001. They included Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks; Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the alleged planner of the USS Cole attack; and Abu Faraj al-Libbi, a key facilitator for bin Laden. After returning to Karachi, Mohammed "put together a training program for assassinations and kidnappings as well as pistol and computer training." (credit:AP)
"Nuclear Hellstorm' Threat(06 of09)
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The leaked files indicate Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told Guantanamo Bay interrogators that Al Qaeda had hidden a nuclear bomb in Europe which will unleash a "nuclear hellstorm" if Osama bin Laden is captured or killed. The terror group also planned to make a 9/11 style attack on London's Heathrow airport by crashing a hijacked airliner into one of the terminals, the files showed. (credit:AP)
'Impotence-Promoting' Drugs (07 of09)
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The Washington Post reports Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the alleged planner of the USS Cole attack, "received injections to promote impotence" to avoid being distracted by women, and "recommended the injections to others so more time could be spent on the jihad." (credit:Getty )
Prisoner Details And Ranking System (08 of09)
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Gitmo detainees are reportedly assessed "high," "medium" or "low" in terms of their intelligence value, the threat they pose while in detention and the continued threat they might pose to the United States if released. As Reuters reports, most of the 172 remaining prisoners have been rated as a "high risk" of posing a threat to the United States and its allies if released without adequate rehabilitation and supervision. (credit:Getty )
'Terrorist Organizations' (09 of09)
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Gitmo authorities named Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency a "terrorist organization" along with Hamas and other international militant networks, according to leaked documents. As the Associated Press reports, the ISI is part of a list that includes more than 60 international militant networks, as well as Iran's intelligence services, that are "terrorist" entities or associations and say detainees linked to them "may have provided support to Al Qaeda and the Taliban, or engaged in hostilities against U.S. and coalition forces." (credit:AP )
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