From Maxwell’s Elementary Grammar, 1904 –
“Oho!” said the pot to the kettle;
“You are dirty and ugly and black!
Sure no one would think you were metal,
Except when you’re given a crack.”
“Not so! not so!” kettle said to the pot;
“‘Tis your own dirty image you see;
For I am so clean – without blemish or blot –
That your blackness is mirrored in me.”
Everyone understands the concept of the pot and the kettle – where the accuser is guilty of the same transgressions blamed on others. That’s exactly what’s going on with the administration’s overreaching investigation of leaks to the Associated Press (AP).
Past and present members of the Department of Justice are assuring everyone that these extraordinary investigations tactics are justified because the leaks really could damage national security and put people’s lives at risk. How could the AP know that? After all, the biggest leakers of sensitive and classified information are the White House, executive agencies, Congress, and staffers regardless of party affiliation. Many of those “official leaks” – as I call them – are intentional and designed with ulterior motives, not to inform the public.
I do not support leaks of national security information by or to anyone, but too many government debacles are hidden behind the inappropriate shield of secrecy, using classification to protect their own reputations and hide their mistakes. Additionally, many leaks are planted as “tests” merely to see if an idea or policy can be sold to the public. Put that all together and the press is not the problem, it’s the leaky pot calling out the leaky kettle.
When the IG cornered the IRS for targeting conservative nonprofit applications, the IRS did not inform Congress or hold a news conference – after all, this is the public’s business. Instead, they leaked. Lois Lerner, IRS director of tax exempt organizations, planted a question about the issue at a non-recorded meeting of the American Bar Association so she could launched a canned apology intended to start the damage control process.
President Obama said he knew nothing about the IRS problem until he saw it in the news – I guess his presidential leak department only initiates, but does not receive, leaks.
The L.A. Times cited a perfect example when it detailed an Obama administration’s criminal espionage case that collapsed when it was revealed that the leaked information was not classified. What was the “leak”? An insider helped a reporter reveal a billion-dollar boondoggle at the NSA.
Leaks, large and small, go on every day in Washington and every administration vows they will stop them. However, none wants to stop all the leaks – they only want to stop leaks from other people; leaks that do not serve their purposes.
The other question is, how wide can you cast the net to stop a leak? Is it proper to get a call list of every call made to or from every news organization because someone, somewhere, is leaking information, or should there be some level of probable cause?
Like gun rights, we are dealing with the U.S. Constitution. However, in this case it’s the First Amendment – “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
The problem is that the government does not need an unconstitutional law to throw ice water on the press; all they need is the unfettered power to intimidate using national security as justification.
Marty Richman is a Hollister resident.
