Can anyone be surprised...?

Feds Tracking Press/Source Phone Calls
by SusanG, from DailyKos
Mon May 15, 2006 at 09:01:22 AM PDT

We can understand why ABC's source chose an "in-person conversation" for this particular revelation.

From ABC's blog:

Federal Source to ABC News: We Know Who You're Calling

May 15, 2006 10:33 AM

Brian Ross and Richard Esposito Report:

A senior federal law enforcement official tells us the government is tracking the phone numbers we call in an effort to root out confidential sources.

"It's time for you to get some new cell phones, quick," the source told us in an in-person conversation.

We do not know how the government determined who we are calling, or whether our phone records were provided to the government as part of the recently-disclosed NSA collection of domestic phone calls.

Other sources have told us that phone calls and contacts by reporters for ABC News, along with the New York Times and the Washington Post, are being examined as part of a widespread CIA leak investigation.

Well, that's one way of getting around the shield law, isn't it? Even if the content of calls is not being recorded - and this report claims ABC's source said there was no indication that they were - the logged calls would be a mine of information for seeking out and punishing whistleblowers. Just grab the phone logs, do a 90-second cross-check, assign physical surveillance and - presto! - you've got your "evil doer" in the NSA who still believes in some constitutional protections for citizens.

And here's the deal: even if it were untrue, putting out this information on press/source phone logging would have an incredible chill effect on anyone inside any federal agency considering resorting going to the media because internal investigations are killed and Congressional oversight is non-existent.

At last, it appears Mr. Bush is moving toward a true "Mission Accomplished" moment: quashing all avenues of inquiry into the truth.

(Original post is here.)