Administration to prosecute whistle-blowers.

From the "intelligence failures" of 9/11 and the Iraq war, to the criminal exposure of CIA operative Valerie Plame, to the use of illegal warrantless wiretaps, the Bush administration has zealously obstructed efforts to conduct full and honest investigations. Now the administration is displaying great zeal to investigate and prosecute the government officials and reporters responsible for publicizing the president's use of illegal wiretaps--a revelation the administration has characterized as a criminal disclosure of classified information.

Federal law enforcement agents have been conducting interviews, and criminal prosecutors at the Justice Department are laying "the groundwork for a grand jury that could lead to criminal charges," noted the February 12 New York Times (a newspaper which is a target of the investigation). In recent congressional testimony, CIA Director Porter Goss stated: "It is my aim and it is my hope that we will witness a grand jury investigation with reporters present being asked to reveal who is leaking this information. I believe the safety of this nation and the people of this country deserve nothing less."

Glenn Greenwald, a veteran litigator from New York City, puts this matter in perspective. "In essence, while the President sits in the White House undisturbed after proudly announcing that he has been breaking the law and will continue to do so, his slavish political appointees at the Justice Department are using the mammoth law enforcement powers of the federal government to find and criminally prosecute those who brought this illegal conduct to light." Describing "this flamboyant use of the forces of criminal prosecution to threaten whistleblowers and intimidate journalists" as "nothing more than the naked tactics of street thugs and authoritarian juntas," Greenwald concludes: "That sounds like a lot of things. The United States isn't one of them."