Washington Free Beacon » National Security

Training Ground

Adam Kredo — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:20:16 +0000

Americans and Europeans have been joining al Qaeda-affiliated groups in Syria in increasing numbers, causing concern that these Western radicals could attempt to carry out terrorist attack on the United States upon returning home, experts told Congress Wednesday.

“Syria is becoming a training ground for foreign fighters,” Seth Jones, a former U.S. Special Operations liaison, told lawmakers during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing.

“Syria is attracting a cadre of foreign fighters who could return home with the ability and intention” to commit terrorism in America and Europe, said Jones, currently a counterterrorism expert for RAND, a think-tank that provides analysis to the U.S. Armed Forces. “An increasing number of [Western] fighters have travelled to Syria … to fight against the Assad regime.”

Terror organizations connected to al Qaeda have become a central presence in Syria as its years-long civil war spiral out of control, the experts told lawmakers.

The al Qaeda-backed group Jabhat al-Nusra (JN), for instance, has already become more popular among rebels than the Free Syrian Army, which the United States and other Western nations have attempted to bolster.

Al-Nusra is now turning Syria into a massive jihadi training camp, giving Western radicals the know-how to commit terrorist attacks on the United States and Europe once they return home, according to Jones and other experts who testified.

“The escalating war in Syria presents a growing threat to the U.S.” and is led by the al-Nusra group, Jones said.

While it is unclear how many Americans and Europeans have joined the fight to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, “these fighters are gaining valuable training in combat, weapons,” explosives, and radical ideology, Jones said.

“Where will these fighters go after” the civil war ends? Jones asked. “Even if some return home … it is uncertain whether they’ll become involved in plots” to kill Americans.

U.S. intelligence agencies are unable to track foreign fighters who have travelled to Syria.

“Once they leave their home countries they fall off the radar,” said Barak Barfi,
a research fellow at the New America Foundation.

Would-be fighters can easily fly into Middle Eastern countries such as Turkey and travel across porous borders into contested states such as Syria.

“All we’re going to find out is a martyrdom notice on a jihadi website,” Barfi said. “It’s a big problem. What are they doing there and what’s going to happen when they come back? Are they going to radicalize others, bring back bomb-making know-how?”

Jones said it is America’s obligation to keep tabs on foreign fighters who could become radicalized.

It is believed that Boston marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev may have been radicalized to the point of violence during a 2012 trip to an area of Russia known to house al Qaeda militants.

“It is contingent on the U.S. to get information from sources on the ground in Syria,” Jones said. “Not enough is being done in the country to collect information.”

“That is a very big weakness of the U.S., its inability to understand what’s going on in Syria,” Jones said.

Al-Nusra fighters in Syria are collecting extensive firepower, including heavy weapons and even aircraft that have been seized from the Assad army’s air bases. It is even possible that they have gotten ahold of Assad’s chemical weapons, experts said.

“In the long run the threat to the U.S. from Syria will only increase and we better deal with it now,” Jones said, explaining that foreign fighters are continuing to receive training in Syria.

Another concern is the rise of al-Nusra among the Syrian people, the top rebel force combatting Assad.

“Syrians beamed about [al Nusra’s] contributions to the revolution,” Barfi said, recalling meetings he had during his last visit to Syria.

Al Nusra “is the most admired rebel unit in the field,” Barfi said, explaining that the group’s ultimate goal is to carve out a terrorist haven in Syria “and take the fight to neighboring Israel.”

“What happens in Syria will not stay in Syria,” Barfi said, adding that “containing” al Nusra “should be a national interest.”

Intelligence and vigilance is the key to preventing radicalized foreign fighters from carrying out terror attacks once they return home from the fight in Syria, experts said.

“America is going to have to deal with the fallout from Syria” whether it decides to intervene or not, said Robin Simcox, a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society. “We should be absolutely mindful of that.”

Center for Turkish Progress

Adam Kredo — Wed, 22 May 2013 09:00:36 +0000

Days before Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan landed in Washington, D.C., for a series of high profile meetings, an influential liberal think tank with ties to the White House released a report that highlighted its cozy relationship with wealthy foreign benefactors from Turkey.

The Center for American Progress (CAP) issued a report, “Freedom of the Press and Expression in Turkey,” on May 14 that critics say downplays the Turkish government’s increasingly authoritarian crackdown on press freedoms.

CAP did not disclose in the report that it receives money from a Turkish business group named TUSKON. The organization has donated at least $25,000 to CAP in order to gain entrance into its exclusive Business Alliance, according to the Nation.

The report was funded in part by the Turkish branch of billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundation. However, CAP’s ties to TUSKON went unmentioned.

TUSKON has close ties to the Erdogan government and, with CAP, jointly hosts an annual “fact finding” trip to Turkey.

Attendees on the junket are given access to senior Turkish government officials. CAP and TUSKON have also jointly held several luncheons at which U.S. commerce secretaries have spoken.

Experts on Turkey argue that CAP has not been transparent about its financial relationship with TUSKON and that the money could be influencing the think tank’s academic work.

One insider speculated that CAP intentionally took a soft approach in order to preserve its close relationship with TUSKON and other groups connected to the Turkish government.

“I can certainly understand the inability of CAP to put out a fair report” on freedom of the press said one D.C. foreign policy insider with intimate knowledge of the Turkish government. “They’re very much interested in access” to Erdogan’s camp.

“The softness of this report is therefore no surprise,” added the source. “It does raise a lot of questions about whether they can even write a fair report” on such issues.

The report attempts to justify and explain Erdogan’s crackdown on the press as a “necessary, if sometimes unpleasant, correction” that will bring about increased democratic reform.

Turkey currently imprisons more journalists than any other country in the world. Leading journalist advocacy groups such as the Committee to Project Journalists (CPJ) have repeatedly cited Erdogan’s government as “world’s worst jailer.”

Of the 232 journalists imprisoned worldwide at the end of 2012, 49 were in Turkey. China and Iran are the next most egregious offenders, according to CPJ.

Erdogan was not asked by reporters to explain his pursuit of the press during a joint press conference May 16 with President Barack Obama at the White House.

Former Middle East Pentagon advisor Michael Rubin said CAP “gives Erdogan too much benefit of the doubt.”

“What CAP doesn’t address is that Erdogan stacked the bodies which police such things,” said Rubin, who claims that an Erdogan confidant served him with a lawsuit last month after he lampooned the Turkish government.

“Erdogan goes above and beyond in his response [to press criticism]—personally suing even political cartoonists who lampoon him and his government,” Rubin said.

However, the CAP report blames anti-government ethnic groups such as the Kurds for spurring unrest and provoking government suppression.

“So far, the government’s behavior has tended toward greater repression. But a disclaimer is necessary before delving into the details of the imprisonment of journalists and media ownership, as well as direct and indirect censorship in Turkey,” CAP states in its report, which was authored by senior fellow Michael Werz.

Werz has gone on CAP’s annual TUSKON-sponsored trips. During one such trip in 2010, CAP chairman John Podesta praised Werz’s pro-Turkey work during a speech before TUSKON officials.

Werz did not respond to a Washington Free Beacon request for comment.

Werz accused free press advocates of overreaching in his report and said they were undermining “the wider political effort to ensure reform.”

“Turkey today is more democratic than in the past, if perhaps less socially liberal,” the report says.

“The blame [for the crackdown] must not be placed solely on the government,” CAP’s report concludes.

CAP also obscured the nature of the Armenian genocide, in which Turkey systematically slaughtered more than 1 million Armenians.

The Turkish government has never acknowledged the mass killings as genocide. The report only refers to the genocide as simply, “the death of more than 1 million Armenians during and after the First World War.”

CAP did not respond to multiple Free Beacon requests for comment on the report and its ties to TUSKON. This included requests for its TUSKON-backed trip itineraries, as well as for information about potential funding that may have been provided by TUSKON.

CAP’s most recent trip with TUSKON was held in February, according to the Nation.

“The CAP delegation met with U.S. Ambassador Francis Ricciardone and senior Turkish government officials,” wrote reporter Ken Silverstein.

“A former CAP staffer told me that TUSKON had ‘amazing access’ and ‘could call anyone in the government and get us a meeting or interview,’ Silverstein wrote. “As a result of the Turkish group’s support, CAP was ‘totally in the tank for them.’”

TUSKON is also a known affiliate of the Gulen movement, whose charismatic spiritual leader, Fethullah Gulen, has come under fire for spreading his Islamist theology across the globe.

A wealthy businessman and spiritual guru to millions, Gulen is viewed as a cult-like personality among critics who have accused him of building a global Islamic empire.

TUSKON is believed to operate as the Gulen movement’s small business arm, lobbying government officials and forming business relationships with Western organizations such as CAP.

“Tuskon is happy to make use of the network of the Turkish religious leader, Fethullah Gulen, who has had huge success in setting up Turkish private schools across the world, and not only in Muslim countries,” according to Le Monde Diplomatique (LMD), a French magazine.

“There is a clear synergy between the entrepreneurial Gulen movement and Tuskon,” LMD reported.

CAP’s Turkey report also drew fire from the political left.

“What’s with CAP report on press freedom in Turkey?” tweeted Turkey expert Aliza Marcus, a former spokeswoman for the liberal fringe group J Street. “Or was goal actually to whitewash press abuses and Kurds issue?”

“This CAP report on press freedom in Turkey spends more time apologizing for Erdogan than lamenting jailed journos,” Marcus later tweeted.

“CAP report is absolute disgrace,” she added.

New Heritage Video: Demand the Truth on Benghazi

Washington Free Beacon Staff — Tue, 21 May 2013 21:23:11 +0000

Cyber Collaboration

Noëlle Bernard — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:46:57 +0000

David DeWalt, CEO of computer firm FireEye, said that 95 percent of U.S. companies have their computer systems compromised daily and that China is responsible for 89 percent of cyber attacks during a Center for Strategic and International Studies event on Tuesday.

DeWalt, NSA Deputy Director Chris Inglis, and 10 experts on cybersecurity taking part in two panels, agreed that there needs to be partnerships between nations, cooperation in the private sector, education for the public, and new policies and laws to establish consequences for attackers.

“The defense model today is completely broken,” DeWalt said.

“There is a great disparity of what the offense and defense does,” Inglis said. “We are strategically lacking, point focused, and not holistic or balanced. We need to actively defend networks.”

James Mulvenon, lead China expert and vice president of Defense Group, said having a strong offense is not enough to stop attacks. He suggested tricking hackers into thinking that the information they are stealing is seeded with false data.

“We have to get the Chinese and these other adversaries off this idea that when they retrieve the data out it is pure,” Mulvenon said.

By sowing deceit the Chinese will respond with “circular firing squads on their end” and would move decision making on such operations to higher levels in the Communist government.

“Every ounce of bureaucratic energy they spend on finding that is an ounce they’re not spending intruding our networks,” Mulvenon said.

One of the major threats is commercial espionage, said Shawn Henry, president of CrowdStrike Services and former FBI executive assistant director.

Stewart Baker, partner at Steptoe & Johnson LLP and former DHS first assistant secretary for policy, said the United States must commit to holding security violators accountable with threats that will “bring the pain.”

He said the United States should treat hackers like terrorists by restricting and revoking visas and commercially black listing invaders.

“We need to take information and follow through,” Baker said. “Tag information to trace back to [invaders] to say we know where they got the information.”

Collectively, the experts on the panels said the public cannot afford to be naïve about cyber threats and that education is essential to stop attacks.

However, Henry said changing human behavior would not be enough because the United States has yet to experience a serious damage from a cyber intrusion.

“Unfortunately, education won’t happen until we see real world impact,” Henry said. “People are willing to take extra steps and measures to be more secure after they see a physical impact.”

More Evidence Hipsters Are Horrible

Robert Charette — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:00:28 +0000

The two groups Americans of all stripes condemn are members of Congress and hipsters. And the latest evidence that hipsters are bound to plummet further into the reputation depths is this: the rising price of beer.

A cheap glass of beer is fast becoming an endangered species in New York City – and you can blame Pabst Blue Ribbon-swilling hipsters for that.

They are the reason why “sub-premium” beer prices in the city have climbed 9.4% in the last seven months, say Restaurant Sciences, which tracks food and beverage sales nationwide.

“I believe the single biggest driver in sub-premium beer price increases is indeed specifically PBR,” said Chuck Ellis, who heads the research company. “It has become quite fashionable.”

Because of hipsters’ unquenchable thirst for beer that tastes like chalk, watering holes are raising the prices of mainstream, sub-premium beer. A $4.50 Bud Light becomes $4.75, then $5.00. America crumbles.

Sub-premium beer has had prices on a steady uptick since October. I can only assume ultra/super-premium drinkers aren’t deterred by $5.25 beer. Salute.

Hipsters are interfering with millions of middle-class Americans. All that natural gas driller in North Dakota wants to do when he clocks out after a 10 hour day is order a cheap cold one before he goes home and faces reality. That hard-working American’s day gets ruined when his sub-premium beer is more expensive because of hipsters. If a coal miner in Scranton gets priced out of his Keystone Light Night, then the hipsters, and the terrorists, and indeed the hipster terrorists, have won.

A recent PPP poll showed 27 percent of Americans supporting the taxation of hipsters just for being hipsters. I may oppose senseless taxes, but a hipster tax would be good for America.

Ft. Hood Shooter Paid More than $275k While in Prison

Washington Free Beacon Staff — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:58:29 +0000

Major Nidal Malik Hasan has been paid more than $275,000 while in prison awaiting trial for the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, NBC Dallas-Fort Worth reports.

Hasan allegedly yelled “Allahu Akbar!” and opened fire on Nov. 5, 2009, killing 13 people, including a pregnant soldier, and wounded more than 30. His pay cannot be stripped unless he is proven guilty of the shooting, according to NBC DFW:

The Department of Defense confirms to NBC 5 Investigates that accused Fort Hood shooter Major Nidal Hasan has now been paid more than $278,000 since the Nov. 5, 2009 shooting that left 13 dead 32 injured. The Army said under the Military Code of Justice, Hasan’s salary cannot be suspended unless he is proven guilty.

If Hasan had been a civilian defense department employee, NBC 5 Investigates has learned, the Army could have suspended his pay after just seven days.

Personnel rules for most civilian government workers allow for “indefinite suspensions” in cases “when the agency has reasonable cause to believe that the employee has committed a crime for which a sentence of imprisonment may be imposed.”

Victims have faced certain difficulties in the wake of shooting because the Army has not formally classified the shooting as “combat related,” instead calling it “workplace violence.” That designation has prevented victims from receiving Purple Hearts, and the loss of access to medical benefits given to those who suffer “combat related” injuries.

Hasan’s trial is expected to begin May 29.

Threat from Within

Bill Gertz — Tue, 21 May 2013 09:00:20 +0000

Taliban insurgents recently vowed to carry out new “infiltration” attacks aimed at killing and demoralizing U.S., allied, and Afghan military forces as part of the spring military offensive, according to U.S. officials.

The expected increase in what the Pentagon calls “insider” attacks by Taliban sympathizers or infiltrators followed an April 27 statement by the Islamist terror group.

It was the first time the Taliban identified insider attacks as a key tactic.

U.S. military officials have said the Taliban shifted to insider attacks as U.S. and allied forces became more adept at countering improvised explosive devices—deadly roadside bombs that have killed and injured hundreds during the 12-year war.

Pentagon spokesman Cmdr. Bill Speaks said the military is aware of the threat.

“As we approach the traditional fighting season, the frequency of insider attacks is likely to increase,” Speaks said. “But we will not allow this insidious tactic to erode our will to complete the mission or hinder our partnership with the [Afghan National Security Forces] in defeating those who threaten Afghanistan’s future.”

Sixty-two coalition troops were killed in 46 attacks in 2012, Speaks said, noting that from 2007 to 2011, 42 insider attacks resulted in 69 coalition deaths. A total of 34 Americans were killed by the method last year.

“So far for 2013, there have been four attacks and four coalition deaths,” he said.

The most recent incident occurred May 4 when two U.S. Marine Corps special operations group commandos were killed by an Afghan National Army soldier who fired on them.

The Taliban statement announcing the spring offensive was posted on the group’s official Voice of Jihad website under the name of the “Islamic Emirate’s Leadership Council.” The council is headed by Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

The statement signaled the beginning of the fighting season in Afghanistan. Insurgent attacks generally decline during the fall and winter months and take off in the spring and summer.

The Taliban are calling their latest offensive the “Khalid bin Walid” offensive and called planned insider attacks as a “qualitatively unique military tactic” targeting foreign “invaders.” Khalid bin Walid was a companion of Muslim founder Muhammad.

In addition to insider attacks, the Taliban also are planning “collective martyrdom attacks,” presumably a reference to car bombs and other bombing attacks. Announced targets include military bases, diplomatic centers, and air bases.

However, the reference to insider attacks has raised concerns at the Pentagon, officials said.

The Taliban statement said there would be the “systematic and coordinated” use of “infiltrating attacks.”

The infiltration operations will be targeted on gaining access “inside the enemy’s centers.”

Insider attacks are carried out by Afghan security and military personnel who are influenced by the Taliban, or who are double agents dispatched or converted while in the Afghan security forces. The terrorists pose as members of the Afghan National Security Forces or Afghan police and then carry out shootings against coalition forces or Afghans working for the central government.

The goal of the spring offensive is to gain “liberation of the remaining regions of the country” from domination by “infidels” and the establishment of a government based on Islamist Sharia law, the statement said.

Last year’s statement on the spring offensive did not mention insider attacks or collective martyrdom operations. It said the group would seek to expand Taliban influence rather than reaching a concluding victory.

“The threat of insider attacks is very real and creates deep distrust at time when training the Afghan forces is critical to the way ahead,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter (R., Calif.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

“These attacks add an extra dimension to the security mission that existed previously, but maintaining the right security procedures and precautions are absolutely critical,” Hunter said. “At this stage of the Afghan mission, it’s important that we stay on offense.”

Hunter stated that the growth of insider attacks is “alarming” in a letter last August to Committee Chairman Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R., Calif.) calling for hearings on the threat.

Then-U.S. commander in Afghanistan Gen. John R. Allen said the use of the terrorist tactic had made him “mad as hell” in September.

“We’re going to get after this,” Allen told CBS “60 Minutes.” “It reverberates everywhere across the United States. We’re willing to sacrifice a lot for this campaign, but we’re not willing to be murdered for it.”

A conference was held in January on the insider threat at Grafenwoehr, Germany where the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Insider Threat Mitigation Working Group met.

Australian Brig. Adam Findlay, chief of the Working Group, told reporters that the Taliban’s use of insider killings has two objectives: “Drive a wedge amongst the coalition countries for political pressure back home, and to try to drive a wedge between us and the Afghan forces.”

U.S. Marine Corps Col. John Walsh, deputy commander of the Insider Threat Mitigation Working Group said the insider attack “is emerging as a signature weapon of this conflict.”

According to Speaks, the Pentagon spokesman, some of the insider attacks were linked to personal grievances by Afghans or were the result of cultural “misunderstandings.”

“The insurgency, with its continuing decline and inability to dissuade the Afghan population from the course of a secure and peaceful Afghanistan, is seeking to exploit the effects of these attacks, and those contributing factors that cause others to commit these attacks, to claim success falsely,” he said.

Speaks said more Afghans were killed in insider attacks than U.S. and allied forces.

Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry issued a statement April 29 stating that its forces are prepared for the spring offensive and dismissed the Taliban threats as “propaganda.”

Michael Rubin, American Enterprise Institute expert on the Afghan conflict, said insider attacks have limited military utility but can be demoralizing.

“Afghans have never lost a war, they just defect to the winning side,” Rubin said in an email. “Momentum means everything. The insider attacks might only kill a handful of soldiers, but they demoralize on a far larger scale. And so, while the attack itself might only splinter the wood, the incumbent demoralization will throw the door wide open.”

Infiltration attacks also can upset U.S. counterinsurgency strategy.

“It’s hard to build rapport and trust with our partners if we’re looking over our shoulder every ten seconds,” Rubin said.

However, Rubin said the Taliban might hit a dead end with the strategy emphasizing insider strikes.

“It’s one thing to argue jihadists have to kill themselves to defeat the Americans, but with the Taliban spinning the transition in Afghanistan as a sign of American defeat, ultimately some Afghans will begin to ask themselves why they should be the last suicide bomber,” he said.

Lisa Curtis, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said insider attacks declined significantly so far in 2013.

“As part of their summer offensive, the Taliban have pledged to reverse this trend by infiltrating the Afghan security forces,” she said. “The Taliban assess insider attacks are the best way to demoralize the U.S. and NATO forces and speed up the pace of their withdrawal.”

Curtis said after the U.S. military cut back joint patrols with Afghan forces last year after the increase in insider attacks, “the Taliban were elated and called the move the start of the coalition’s overall defeat in Afghanistan.”

The U.S. and Afghan militaries have taken steps to curb the attacks through more careful vetting and monitoring of recruits, she said.

“The Afghan Army leadership has taken the issue of insider attacks very seriously and it is not clear that the Taliban will be able to follow through on their pledge to step up these kinds of attacks in 2013,” Curtis said.

Conservatives Concerned About Immigration

Alana Goodman — Tue, 21 May 2013 04:00:29 +0000

A coalition of over 60 prominent conservative leaders has “serious concerns” about the proposed Senate immigration reform legislation, according to a letter that will be released on Tuesday.

A wide range of right-leaning opinion-makers, including National Review editor Rich Lowry, conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, and Newsweek contributing editor David Frum signed the open letter, which was organized by the Eagle Forum.

The coalition called the proposed law “bloated and unwieldy along the lines of Obamacare or Dodd-Frank,” and cited concerns about its potential impact on U.S. job seekers and national security.

“Reforming our immigration system is an important priority. But S.744 is such a defective measure that it would do more harm than good,” wrote the coalition. “We urge you to vote against it and against any cloture vote to bring up the bill. Only then can a constructive, measured debate take place on how to improve America’s immigration policy.”

Dozens of local activist leaders also signed onto the letter.

The letter appears to be a rejoinder to the one sent on May 8 by another coalition of prominent conservatives, which called the Senate legislation “an important starting point” for reforming the immigration system, and called on Republicans and Democrats to work together to improve the bill.”

“This legislation is not perfect. We do not expect the bill without amendments to pass, and we encourage good-faith amendments to improve the legislation,” the coalition wrote. “We ask that conservatives in the Senate work to improve the legislation. America needs immigration reform. As the Democrats run the Senate, the ball is in their court. They can work with conservatives to improve the legislation to foster growth and security and help be a part of solving the problem. Or they can undermine it, by putting partisan politics over sound public policy.”

The May 8 letter was organized by the American Conservative Union and signatories included Americans for Tax Reform’s Grover Norquist, the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Ralph Reed, and former deputy Pentagon chief Paul Wolfowitz.

The Senate Judiciary Committee markup of the legislation will continue on Tuesday and is expected to wrap up later this week.

Marine Corps Medic Dreams of Major Leagues

Washington Free Beacon Staff — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:34:32 +0000

Joey Falcone, a 27-year-old Columbia baseball player and former Marine Corps medic, is interested in pursuing a major league career after serving two tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, the New York Times reports.

Faclone is older than most college baseball players, but he has two more years of eligibility. Falcone hopes to follow in his father’s footsteps. His father played in the major leagues from 1975 to 1984.

Falcone, a 6-foot-5, 225-pound, left-handed designated hitter, posted a team-leading .536 slugging percentage as Columbia (26-19) set a university record for Ivy League victories, going 16-4 in league play. Falcone went 6 for 9 as Columbia swept two games against Dartmouth to win the Ivy League Championship Series. [...]

Falcone said thoughts of returning to baseball filled his mind toward the end of his military duty. “My desire to play and give it a shot never left me,” he said, “and I was confused about why it never left me.”

He enrolled at the College of Staten Island to return to competition while pursuing a nursing career. At Columbia, he is an economics major with a concentration in mathematics.

DOJ Spying on Journalists

Washington Free Beacon Staff — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:03:43 +0000

The Washington Post this weekend detailed a 2009 Department of Justice investigation that used a wide array of tracking methods to target not only a State Department employee but also a Fox News reporter.

The investigation revolves around a 2009 story that Fox News’ James Rosen broke about North Korea’s nuclear program and the regime’s intentions to conduct a nuclear test in response to United Nations sanctions.

The Department of Justice began tracking the supposed originator of the information, the State Department’s Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, and Rosen to determine their relationship following the article’s publishing.

According to the Post, which obtained court records for the case, the FBI tracked Rosen’s movements out of federal office buildings, phone records, and the private email accounts of Kim and Rosen to build a case against them.

A federal judge granted the DOJ permission to include Rosen in the investigation since there was evidence that Rosen was a “co-conspirator” in releasing classified information.

As the Post points out, these actions are quite alarming:

However, it remains an open question whether it’s ever illegal, given the First Amendment’s protection of press freedom, for a reporter to solicit information. No reporter, including Rosen, has been prosecuted for doing so.

The 2009 investigation is similar to the latest news that the DOJ has been tracking Associated Press reporters, but the breadth of the investigation of James Rosen raises new questions of how many journalists have been the targets of these searches.

While the Department of Justice maintains it followed all applicable laws in their investigations of government leaks, they have been criticized for the number of investigations carried out since 2009:

The Obama administration has pursued more such cases than all previous administrations combined, including one against a former CIA official charged with leaking U.S. intelligence on Iran and another against a former FBI contract linguist who pleaded guilty to leaking to a blogger.