Is The AP Probe "Embarrassing, Bad" For CIA?

Miller: Intel Leak In AP Probe "Embarrassing, Bad" For CIA -- CBS

(CBS News) Attorney General Eric Holder strongly defended the Justice Department's seizure of two-months-worth of Associated Press phone records on Tuesday, saying the leak of secret information to the AP created a national security threat.

The Justice Department obtained the phone records of the AP -- from April and May in 2012 -- in an effort to determine who leaked confidential information regarding a Saudi double agent who had infiltrated al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

In a letter to Holder, Associated Press CEO Gary Pruitt said there is "no possible justification" for the gathering of AP records and the AP has suggested the investigation was likely linked to a May 7, 2012 report about the CIA foiling an al Qaeda plot, similar to the so-called underwear bomb plot in 2009, to blow up an airliner heading for the U.S.

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My Comment: It may be "embarrassing bad" for the CIA, but it is a disaster for the White House. Leaks and issues of national security always come and go .... but using government power to seize the phone records of the world's number one wire news service is unprecedented, and sends a chill for anyone who makes their living on reporting the news and using confidential information for their leads.