Costs of Spying on the AP That the Establishment Ignores

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/05/costs-of-spying-on-the-ap-that-the-establishment-ignores/276068/



***SNIP

At this stage, it is impossible to know the circumstances behind the prosecutor's decision to issue this subpoena (though he could tell us!). And it's impossible to know how significantly the leak damaged national security, if at all. Would the agent have been able to stay undercover but for the leak? Would he have accomplished anything of importance undercover? Will Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula succeed in an attack that would've been thwarted but for the leak? It is certainly possible that damage was done. But the government hasn't released enough information to prove "significant damage" or even the probability of significant damage. We aren't being told all the details even though the undercover agent's cover has already been irrecoverably blown. Why? Perhaps the whole truth weakens the government's case.

(It isn't like the Obama Administration hasn't misled us before.)

Meanwhile, it is impossible to know how much damage the leak investigation has done. Are there government sources with knowledge of corruption or serious wrongdoing who've decided against speaking out, now that they see DOJ going after the phone records of reporters? What stories that advance the public interest will the Associated Press be unable to break as a consequence of this action? What important reforms won't be made? What issues won't be subject to democratic accountability? What illegal or immoral actions will officials get away with under cover of secrecy, especially given their well documented penchant for over-classifying information?

The leak of such sensitive source information not only denies us an invaluable insight into our adversaries' plans and operations. It is also devastating to our overall ability to thwart terrorist threats, because it discourages our allies from working and sharing intelligence with us and deters would-be sources from providing intelligence about our adversaries. Unless we can demonstrate the willingness and ability to stop this kind of leak, those critical intelligence resources may be lost to us.