Justice Department Subpoenas Wall Street Journal Reporters Over Feb. 23 Iran Leak Story
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · May 12
Justice Department Subpoenas Wall Street Journal Reporters Over Feb. 23 Iran Leak Story
8 articles · Updated · The New York Times · May 12
March 4 subpoenas sought records from Wall Street Journal reporters tied to a Feb. 23 article on Pentagon warnings to President Trump about the risks of striking Iran.
The move marks a rare use of federal prosecutorial power against journalists and signals a more aggressive leak crackdown as the administration intensifies scrutiny of reporting on internal national-security deliberations.
Dow Jones called the demands an attack on constitutionally protected newsgathering and said it would vigorously oppose what it described as an effort to stifle and intimidate reporting.
The inquiry is one of several leak investigations being run by the U.S. attorney's office in Eastern Virginia, a longtime center for classified-disclosure cases because it covers the Pentagon and CIA.
As leak investigations intensify, where is the legal line between protecting national security and ensuring the public’s right to know?
With increasing pressure on journalists, will government insiders now be too afraid to expose potential wrongdoing to the public?
Are decades-old legal protections for the press still adequate in today's era of digital information and heightened security threats?