Barack Obama dropped this line during his national security speech this week.
“A free press is also essential for a democracy. That’s who we are. And, I’m troubled by the possibility that a leak investigations may chill investigative journalism that holds government accountable. Journalists should not be in legal risk for doing their jobs.“
But that was on Thursday.
On Friday we found out that the Obama administration fought to keep the search warrant for Rosen’s private e-mail account secret on the grounds that they might need to monitor the account for a long period of time.
The Politico reported:
According to The New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza, the Obama administration fought to keep the search warrant for Rosen’s private e-mail account secret on the grounds that they might need to monitor the account for a long period of time.
“Ronald C. Machen, Jr., the U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, a former State Department adviser who allegedly leaked classified information to Rosen, insisted that the reporter should not be notified of the search and seizure of his e-mails, even after a lengthy delay,” Lizza writes, citing a court filing.
Machen “argued that disclosure of the search warrant would preclude the government from monitoring the account… [and] added that “some investigations are continued for many years because, while the evidence is not yet sufficient to bring charges, it is sufficient to have identified criminal subjects and/or criminal activity serious enough to justify continuation of the investigation.”