Hegseth announces joint taskforce with DoJ to target and prosecute press leaks
US defense secretary says taskforce will ‘combat dangers’ of leaks in latest escalation of White House press crackdown
The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, announced on Monday that the Pentagon and the US Department of Justice have created a “joint taskforce to identify and prosecute” what he called the “unauthorized disclosure of sensitive” information to the press, marking the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s effort to crackdown on leaks
In a video posted on X, Hegseth said that “to combat the dangers that leaks pose, effectively immediately, I have delegated tasking authority to the war department’s office of general counsel, empowering OGC to request and receive all information, records and support across the department concerning media leak investigations”
“Leaked information risks lives, these new tools and processes will greatly assist us in protecting our joint force,” he said. “The security of our nation cannot be a bargaining chip for those who seek momentary headlines, access to confidential and secret information is a sacred trust, and those who betray that trust will be met with the full force of the law.”
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In his remarks, he also thanked the acting US attorney general, Todd Blanche, “for his help in this important project”, and said that he was “proud that our departments are working together closer than we have ever before”
The new taskforce comes as over the weekend, the New York Times said that the Trump administration issued subpoenas to several of the paper’s journalists, after they reported on security concerns regarding Donald Trump’s new Qatari-gifted plane
On Wednesday, the Times reported that Trump left Turkey onboard the old Air Force One, instead of his new Qatari-gifted aircraft, as a security precaution at the urging of the Secret Service. The following day, the newspaper reported that the new Air Force One lacked some of the advanced security features of the older aircraft. Both stories cited anonymous
On Saturday, the Times said that their reporters had been issued subpoenas, seeking to compel them to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan this week
According to the newspaper, before publishing its first story, a senior FBI official contacted a reporter and senior editor asking for the article to be withheld, calling it an issue of national security, but declined to explain the security issue. The official also reportedly requested that the Times disclose its
David McCraw, the Times’s top newsroom lawyer, condemned the subpoenas in a statement, saying that the “appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects”
A spokesperson for the justice department told the New York Times on Saturday that the “reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are”
“We value and appreciate the important role that the press plays in this country, but DOJ also plays an important role to make sure that the people entrusted with our nation’s secrets do what they’re supposed to do with that information,” the justice department spokesperson added
The Washington DC-based National Press Club said that the subpoenas “should alarm every American because it threatens the public’s constitutional right to an independent press”
The New York Times described the subpoenas as an “an extraordinary escalation in President Trump’s efforts to threaten and intimidate independent news organizations”
It comes as earlier this year, the justice department also sought to compel testimony from journalists at the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, before withdrawing the subpoenasafter they were challenged by the news organizations. And in January, federal agents took the extraordinary step of raiding the home of a Washington Post reporter as part of an investigation into a government contractor’s handling of classified records
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