Why AP Phone Records Were Seized: Yemen Story - Business Insider

Flikr Attorney General Eric Holder

The Justice Department has secretly obtained two months of phone records for some Associated Press reporters and editors, in what the news company said was likely due to a May 7, 2012, story on a thwarted terror plot.

The May 7, 2012 story deals with the CIA's thwarting of an al-Qaeda affiliate in Yemen's plot to detonate an upgrade of the so-called "underwear bomb" on a U.S.-bound airliner. The attack was set to occur on the one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden.?

John Brennan, who is now the CIA Director, said in testimony in February that the release of information related to the thwarted terror plot was?"unauthorized and dangerous disclosure of classified information."

According to its article last year, the AP learned about the CIA's foiling of the plot the week before the Obama administration was going to announce it publicly. It ended up publishing the story a day before the Obama administration announced it publicly, despite protests from the administration to wait for an official announcement. The AP said it published the story because it was assured from officials that it did not pose a threat to national security.

The May 7, 2012, story was written by reporters Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman, and Kimberly Dozier, Eileen Sullivan, and Alan Fram contributed. Ted Bridis edited the story.

In its report today, the AP said that the Justice Department's seizure of phone records included those five reporters.

From the AP:

In the letter notifying the AP received Friday, the Justice Department offered no explanation for the seizure, according to [AP CEO Gary] Pruitt's letter and attorneys for the AP. The records were presumably obtained from phone companies earlier this year although the government letter did not explain that. None of the information provided by the government to the AP suggested the actual phone conversations were monitored.

Among those whose phone numbers were obtained were five reporters and an editor who were involved in the May 7, 2012 story.

The Obama administration has aggressively investigated disclosures of classified information to the media and has brought six cases against people suspected of leaking classified information, more than under all previous presidents combined.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-ap-phone-records-seized-yemen-story-cia-al-qaeda-2013-5

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