Reidblog [The Reid Report blog]

WASHINGTON — Reporters who write about government surveillance could be prosecuted under proposed legislation that would solidify the administration’s eavesdropping authority, according to some legal analysts.

An aide to the bill’s chief author, Sen. Mike DeWine, an Ohio Republican, said that is not the intention of the legislation.

“It in no way applies to reporters — in any way, shape or form,” said Mike Dawson, a senior policy adviser to DeWine, responding to an inquiry Friday afternoon. “If a technical fix is necessary, it will be made.”

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the draft of the legislation, which could be introduced as soon as next week.

The draft would add to the criminal penalties for anyone who “intentionally discloses information identifying or describing” the Bush administration’s terrorist surveillance program or any other eavesdropping program conducted under a 1978 surveillance law.

Under the boosted penalties, those found guilty could face fines of up to $1 million, 15 years in jail, or both.

Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, said the measure is broader than any existing laws. She said, for example, that the language does not specify that the information has to be harmful to national security or classified.
“The bill would make it a crime to tell the American people that the president is breaking the law, and the bill could make it a crime for the newspapers to publish that fact,” said Martin, a civil liberties advocate.

DeWine is co-sponsoring the bill with Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska.