Accusations Fly as Gov't Probes Security Leaks

Dienstag, 12. Juni 2012

Accusations Fly as Gov't Probes Security Leaks

Government officials have launched a criminal investigation to determine who's behind a series of leaks that revealed some of America's sensitive national security secrets.

The New York Times reported on the leaks, which included news that a double agent infiltrated al Qaeda and foiled a new plot to bomb U.S. airplanes, U.S. attempts to assassinate al Qaeda leaders with drone strikes, and efforts to cripple Iran's nuclear program with a computer virus.

"It seems to be a pattern that is growing worse and more frequent," Intelligence committee member Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., said of the national security leaks.

When people say they don't want to work with the United States because they can't trust us to keep a secret, that's serious," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., added.

Former Obama opponent Sen. John McCain has even accused the Obama administration of leaking the information to make the president look good before the November election.

"Regardless of how politically useful these leaks may have been to the president, they have to stop. These leaks have to stop," McCain said.

"The notion that my White House would purposefully release classified national security information is offensive," President Obama said in response.

Attorney General Eric holder has appointed two prosecutors to probe for sources of the leaks.

The pair will supervise teams of FBI agents and have the authority to conduct grand jury investigations as well as subpoena journalists and members of government.

The investigation could go all the way to top Obama administration officials.

"I think the authors of all of this work have said that the White House was not the source of these, of this information," David Axelrod, senior Obama campaign advisor, said.

"I can't say that there weren't leaks. There were obviously leaks, but they weren't from the White House," he added.

McCain has said a special prosecutor -- independent of the administration -- should be appointed.

Both Feinstein and Rogers said they're willing to see how the investigations proceed before considering if a special counsel should take over.

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