(MintPress) – Citing concerns of national security and troop safety, former Republican presidential candidate and Arizona Senator John McCain recently called for an investigation into leaked documents provided to media outlets by government officials. Due to the leaks, McCain said “our enemies now know much more than they even did the day before they came out about important aspects of the nation’s unconventional offensive capability and how we use them.”
McCain referenced the leak of “kill lists” used by Obama to identify and track al-Qaeda operatives as part of a counterterrorism effort to the New York Times. In the story, three dozen current and former advisers to Obama spoke about his role and tactics in conflicts in the Middle East – detailing drone usage overseas and labeling many civilians as militants when tabulating innocent casualties.
The senator also pointed to a Washington Post article that anonymously quoted current and former government officials as saying that the United States, along with Israel, was behind a cyber attack against Iran’s nuclear weapons program. The Stuxnet computer worm was reportedly used to target uranium enrichment computer infrastructure in Iran.
McCain, who is joined in the effort by Georgia Republican Senator and vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Saxby Chambliss, said prosecutions are necessary to curb future leaks by government and administration officials. He also suggested that many of the leaks hold Obama in a positive light and portray him as having an aggressive foreign policy and counterterrorism stance.
“Such disclosures can only undermine similar ongoing or future operations and, in this sense, compromise national security,” McCain told the New York Times. “For this reason, regardless of how politically useful these leaks may be to the president, they have to stop.”
Obama’s foreign policy has come under fire from McCain in the past, with McCain charging that Obama has not taken initiative by refusing to express support for protesters and demonstrators during the height of the Arab Spring. He alleged the president leads “from behind” and that his foreign policy was “feckless”.
“You know, this is a shameful episode in American history,” he said. “It began back in 2009, when we refused – when the president of the United States refused to speak up on behalf of the demonstrators in the streets of Tehran, and gone from one episode to another.”
In response to the published story about the cyberattacks against Iran, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced on Tuesday that it is looking into which governmental employees leaked the information to the New York Times. The Wall Street Journal wrote that FBI Director Robert Mueller said the agency was looking into how a string of leaks made it into mainstream media and whether it was intentionally done.
But last week, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters during a conference that no officials, past or present, within the administration would knowingly leak classified data.
“It’s classified for a reason, because publicizing that information would pose a significant threat to national security,” Earnest said.
The U.S. government has dealt with widespread leaks, particularly pertaining to its combat efforts in the Middle East. The government is currently taking legal efforts against former Army Private Bradley Manning, who allegedly leaked thousands of diplomatic cables and war logs to whistleblower publisher WikiLeaks. One of the more notable leaks from that case showed an Apache helicopter firing upon Iraqi civilians, which was later dubbed “Collateral Murder” by WikiLeaks and has since garnered more than 12.5 million views on YouTube.
Manning’s attorney, David Coombs, has argued that the government is withholding evidence by refusing to hand over 250,000 documents to the defense that relate to Manning and WikiLeaks. Coombs has accused the Army of obstructing the court proceedings by continuing to resist disclosure of information that would help Manning receive a lighter sentence.
A three-day pretrial hearing opened on Wednesday for Manning, of which his lawyers sought to drop 10 of the 22 counts against him. Manning faces life in prison if he is convicted on his most serious charge, aiding the enemy.