View from the Center and Left Message Board

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Politics : View from the Center and Left

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To: KLP who wrote (11617)	2/12/2006 3:36:24 PM
From: Dale Baker	Read Replies (2) of 541025

Since effective journalism for politics, national security and foreign affairs is often based on getting inside information from government sources to get a complete picture of what is going on (so the public can decide for themselves what they think - remember, they report and we decide, right?), some classified information will get into the public realm through the media. Some will be leaked by the President's own officials as part of their own political campaign. Some will get out despite a President's effort to contain damaging or embarrassing information. But they all contribute to the democratic process in their own way. The Supreme Court reaffirmed that view in the Pentagon Papers case, and courts at all levels have followed that precedent ever since. If you want to crack down on everyone with security clearances and make it impossible for them to leak, fine. If you want to prosecute every leaker with 20 years in prison, fine. But I would never punish the media for getting information and using it. I'm sure your next post will be how awful it could be for the wrong classified information to get into enemy hands. In fact, the top editors have a pretty good record for not printing troop movements and stuff like that. I know your partisan point of view will not let you concede that so spare me the whole emotional argument. Bottom line - people who agree to hold security clearances have an absolute responsibility to follow the conditions of that clearance without exception. Crack down on them if you don't like the leaks. BTW, a huge amount of stuff is classified that should never be classified in the first place. It's a game they play in Washington to make a lot of stuff look more important than it is.

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