http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100612/ZNYT02/6123012/2055/NEWSObama Takes a Hard Line Against Leaks to PressSCOTT SHANE
Published: Saturday, June 12, 2010 at 5:17 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, June 12, 2010 at 5:17 a.m
The indictment of Mr. Drake was the latest evidence that the Obama administration is proving more aggressive than the Bush administration in seeking to punish unauthorized leaks.
In 17 months in office, President Obama has already outdone every previous president in pursuing leak prosecutions. His administration has taken actions that might have provoked sharp political criticism for his predecessor, George W. Bush, who was often in public fights with the press.
Mr. Drake was charged in April; in May, an F.B.I. translator was sentenced to 20 months in prison for providing classified documents to a blogger; this week, the Pentagon confirmed the arrest of a 22-year-old Army intelligence analyst suspected of passing a classified video of an American military helicopter shooting Baghdad civilians to the Web site Wikileaks.org.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department has renewed a subpoena in a case involving an alleged leak of classified information on a bungled attempt to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program that was described in “State of War,” a 2006 book by James Risen. The author is a reporter for The New York Times. And several press disclosures since Mr. Obama took office have been referred to the Justice Department for investigation, officials said, though it is uncertain whether they will result in criminal cases.
Meanwhile...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/22/AR2010052200033.htmlNo criminal charges for executives in troubled AIG subsidiaryBy Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 22, 2010
The Justice Department has closed its high-profile investigation into current and former executives of an American International Group subsidiary that was linked to the insurance giant's near collapse, sources familiar with the probe said Friday evening.
Federal prosecutors informed the executives in phone calls on Friday that the two-year investigation was over and would not result in criminal charges, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the decision has not been publicly disclosed.
The executives, who worked at a unit of AIG called Financial Products, were instrumental in designing complex contracts known as credit-default swaps. For a fee, the firm essentially would insure a company's corporate debt in case of default. The products were intended to be a money-maker for the firm and its parent company.
But the subsidiary's entry into credit-default swaps evolved into insuring more volatile forms of debt, including the mortgage-backed securities that helped fuel the real estate boom. The housing downturn exposed AIG to more than $500 billion in liabilities, threatening the financial stability of dozens of other financial institutions and prompting a massive government rescue in September 2008.
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