WASHINGTON, DC (KNX) -- Appearing on the ABC's News program This Week, Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez says he believes any reporter printing classified information should be prosecuted, citing an obligation to national security.
The nation's chief law enforcement officer added there is justification for using telephone records to track down reporters' sources when investigating leaks, but added that such tracking would not be done randomly.
"There are some statutes on the book which, if you read the language carefully, would seem to indicate that that is a possibility," Gonzales said, referring to prosecutions. "We have an obligation to enforce those laws. We have an obligation to ensure that our national security is protected."
Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said she assumed that the attorney general was referencing the 1917 Espionage Act, which she said has never been used to prosecute journalists who were providing information to the public.
"I can't imagine a bigger chill on free speech and the public's right to know what it's government is up to — both hallmarks of a democracy — than prosecuting reporters," Dalglish said.
When asked whether he intended to push for prosecution of the New York Times for revealing information about the NSA domestic surveillance program, Gonzalez had no comment.
He also denied that the government would monitor domestic-to-domestic phone calls in an effort to identify journalistic sources.
"We don't engage in domestic-to-domestic surveillance without a court order," Gonzales said, under a "probable cause" legal standard.
But he added that the First Amendment right of a free press should not be absolute when it comes to national security.
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