At a news conference, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the Justice Department is cracking down on leaks coming out of the government. | Andrew Harnik/AP Sessions: DOJ reviewing policies on media subpoenas First Amendment advocates decry the attorney general's comments as 'deeply troubling.'

The Justice Department is considering making changes to its policies on subpoenaing news organizations as part of its crackdown on government leaks, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday.

At a news conference, Sessions said the Justice Department is cracking down on leaks coming out of the government. The department "has more than tripled the number of active leak investigations" since the end of the Obama administration in January, he said.


Much of the effort involves investigating and prosecuting leak suspects, he said, but another aspect is “reviewing policies affecting media subpoenas.” That review, he said, came at the suggestion of FBI agents, career investigators and prosecutors who have weighed in on the leak problem.

“We respect the important role that the press plays, and we'll give them respect, but it is not unlimited,” Sessions said. “They cannot place lives at risk with impunity. We must balance the press’ role with protecting our national security and the lives of those who serve in the intelligence community, the armed forces and all law-abiding Americans.”

At the news conference, Sessions described the nation as having a problematic “culture of leaks” that must be stamped out. And he issued a blunt warning to “would-be leakers” of classified information: “Don’t do it,” or risk prosecution.

POLITICO Playbook newsletter Sign up today to receive the #1-rated newsletter in politics Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

“It's vital for the intelligence community to know that the Department of Justice is committed to investigating and prosecuting these referrals,” Sessions said. “When few investigations take place, criminal leaks may occur more often and a culture of leaking can take hold.”

“So today, I have this message for our friends in the intelligence community,” he continued. “The Department of Justice is open for business, and I have this warning for would-be leakers: Don't do it.”

Sessions also announced that the FBI has created a new team specifically focused on leaks of classified information to the press and public.

"The FBI has increased resources devoted to leak cases and created a new counterintelligence unit to manage these cases," the attorney general said.

Traditionally, leaks have been investigated by FBI agents who handle both traditional espionage cases and unauthorized disclosures to the media.

"We recognize that there are some similarities to traditional espionage in unauthorized disclosure cases, but there are unique challenges in the leak cases and so we think it’s important to have a dedicated unit of agents and a supervisor who are essential specialists in the issues that arise in media leaks," Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said.

Despite the announcement of changes to the FBI's system for responding to leak cases, no FBI official joined in Friday's announcement or a subsequent news briefing.

At the off-camera briefing that followed televised remarks from Sessions and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, Rosenstein said the FBI's absence was due to the fact that FBI Director Chris Wray was just sworn in on Wednesday. An FBI spokeswoman referred questions about the new unit there back to the Justice Department.

Sessions did not take questions, but during an exchange with reporters after the attorney general spoke, Rosenstein declined to rule out prosecution of journalists.

"I'm not going to comment on any hypotheticals," he said. Sessions also refused to make such an unequivocal promise at his confirmation hearings in January, although President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder had vowed not to jail journalists for doing their work.

"What we’re reviewing is we’re reviewing the entire process of how we conduct media leak investigations. We’re responding to issues that have been raised by our career prosecutors and agents about why the cases take the time that they do and what we can do to conduct them more expeditiously," Rosenstein added.

Attorney General Eric Holder tightened the media policy in 2015, making it more difficult for prosecutors to pursue such information. The action followed complaints from journalists, as well as Democrats and Republicans in Congress, that such efforts were too intrusive.

The deputy attorney general said the process, contained in a federal regulation, is time-consuming and complex.

"It’s pretty detailed and it imposes a lot of procedural hurdles before certain steps are taken. So, we’re taking a fresh look at it in light of the concerns that have been raised by our agents and prosecutors. We don’t know yet what, if any, changes we’re going to make," Rosenstein said.

First Amendment advocates responded with alarm to the talk of making it easier to pry into journalists' phone records or emails or even, potentially, to prosecute them.

“The attorney general’s intent to revisit the guidelines is deeply troubling as is the frame he put around it today — that reporters are putting lives at risk. Journalists and news organizations have a long history of handling this information in a responsible way, working with government officials to evaluate potential harms, and taking steps to mitigate any damage when there is an overwhelming public interest in revealing it," Reporters Committee Executive Director Bruce Brown said in a statement.

“The current guidelines reflect a great deal of good-faith discussion between the news media and a wide range of interests from within the Department of Justice, including career prosecutors and key nonpolitical personnel. They carefully balance the need to enforce the law and protect national security with the value of a free press that can hold the government accountable to the people," Brown added.

Rosenstein said he expects to meet with media representatives next week.

Trump has railed against the stream of leaks coming out of his administration, both stories including unclassified details about the day-to-day working of his White House and bigger stories about intelligence agencies and the ongoing investigation into his campaign’s relationship with Russia.

While all the officials who spoke Friday inveighed against the grave harm done by leakers, no examples were given. National Counterintelligence Executive William Evanina said that was the product of a "paradox," where confirming the leak exacerbates the damage.

Officials took that principle so far Friday that they would not provide the actual number of leak investigations or criminal referrals, even as they claimed that the numbers had tripled when compared with earlier periods. Rosenstein said the Justice Department does not release such tallies, but the total number of referrals annually has been repeatedly disclosed in response to Freedom of Information Act requests and officials have submitted to Congress similar counts of leak investigations and even the number of suspects involved.

Based on comments Rosenstein made Friday, however, it appeared that the figures said to have tripled were not the overall number of referrals or investigations, but the number deemed most serious and worthy of criminal investigation.

Disclosure: Josh Gerstein is a member of the Reporters Committee steering committee.