President-elect Donald Trump isn’t waiting until his inauguration to push for investigations of leaks to the press — an indication that he’ll emulate and possibly surpass President Obama’s practice of criminalizing disclosures to the media. Trump on Friday urged Congress to investigate leaks of “top secret intelligence shared with NBC,” in a tweet:

I am asking the chairs of the House and Senate committees to investigate top secret intelligence shared with NBC prior to me seeing it. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2017

He was apparently referring to the NBC News write-up of what was actually a leak to the Washington Post, which reported on Thursday about the contents of a new Obama administration report describing alleged efforts by the Russian government to influence the U.S. election. NBC confirmed the Post’s account with an anonymous “senior U.S. intelligence official.” Trump was briefed on the report on Friday afternoon, and an unclassified version was released publicly. Unauthorized leaks of information are essential for journalists investigating the government, and free speech advocates were quick to condemn Trump’s impulse to crack down on them. “It is worrisome that the president-elect, even before taking office, is training his sights on the media,” said Suzanne Nossel, executive director at PEN America, one of the largest writers groups defending freedom of expression. “Amid the seriousness of the allegations of hacking and foreign interference in our election, asking the House and Senate to look into an alleged leak is a woeful diversion of resources and has the potential to chill the ability of the press to play their crucial role going forward.” Senator Wyden, D-Ore., a prominent member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, also expressed concern.

After January 20, will Trump be personally directing investigations whenever a news story annoys him? https://t.co/DINxJ72frR — Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) January 6, 2017