This call may be monitored

[Jim]

WTF! Every time you think you've seen it all by the Bushies they notch it up one. And the Republicans in charge of Congress are asleep at the wheel in favor of party loyalty.

 

Secret gov't source tells ABC News: 'Get new cellphones'

Posted by Frank James at 12:10 pm CDT

 

ABC News has a very disturbing report today, at least for reporters and anyone else who believe that whistleblowers serve an important role in safeguarding American democracy.

 

On its blog, The Blotter, ABC News reports that a senior government source has told its reporters that the reporters’ phone calls with sources are being tracked by the U.S. government “to root out confidential sources.”

 

I hasten to say I don't have independent confirmation of the facts underlying the ABC News report. But I thought it was something readers of The Swamp would find interesting. The item follows.

 

Federal Source to ABC News: We Know Who You're Calling

May 15, 2006 10:33 AM

 

Brian Ross and Richard Esposito Report:

 

A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we call in an effort to root out confidential sources.

 

"It's time for you to get some new cell phones, quick," the source told us in an in-person conversation.

 

ABC News does not know how the government determined who we are calling, or whether our phone records were provided to the government as part of the recently-disclosed NSA collection of domestic phone calls.

 

Other sources have told us that phone calls and contacts by reporters for ABC News, along with the New York Times and the Washington Post, are being examined as part of a widespread CIA leak investigation.

 

One former official was asked to sign a document stating he was not a confidential source for New York Times reporter James Risen.

 

Our reports on the CIA's secret prisons in Romania and Poland were known to have upset CIA officials.

 

People questioned by the FBI about leaks of intelligence information say the CIA was also disturbed by ABC News reports that revealed the use of CIA predator missiles inside Pakistan.

 

Under Bush Administration guidelines, it is not considered illegal for the government to keep track of numbers dialed by phone customers.

 

The official who warned ABC News said there was no indication our phones were being tapped so the content of the conversation could be recorded.

 

A pattern of phone calls from a reporter, however, could provide valuable clues for leak investigators.

 

Being a confidential source who disagrees with a presidential administration then decides to oppose it by becoming a whistleblower can take courage when discovery means loss of a job and possible legal consequences.

 

It’s just that kind of courage that this revelation is likely to chill. That could be the administration’s intent here, to make would-be confidential sources think twice before talking with reporters.

 

It’s no small irony that the only reason we now know about this is because a ABC News’ confidential source told them about it.

 

The Blotter posting raises the question of whether ABC News’ phone calls were swept up as part of the vast National Security Agency database consisting of the phone-call records of millions of Americans which USA Today reported on last week.

 

 

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_theswamp/2006/05/govt_source_tel.html

[olyclimber]

don't worry, they're only monitoring the phone calls of the bad guys....you know...like the liberal media.

[Dechristo]

they're all out to get you.

[olyclimber]

they're all out to get you.

 

they have already got me.

[Dechristo]

you're not supposed to know that

[EWolfe]

Fortunately, my acute paranoia tipped me off.