The Associated Press announced today that the Justice Department obtained two months of telephone records from more than twenty AP office telephones just over a year ago. The DOJ notified the AP of the investigation on Friday. AP's President and CEO has "demanded the return of the phone records and destruction of all copies."
According to the AP, the process for obtaining records from news organizations is "strict."
A subpoena can be considered only after "all reasonable attempts" have been made to get the same information from other sources, the rules say. It was unclear what other steps, in total, the Justice Department might have taken to get information in the case.
A subpoena to the media must be "as narrowly drawn as possible" and "should be directed at relevant information regarding a limited subject matter and should cover a reasonably limited time period," according to the rules....
News organizations normally are notified in advance that the government wants phone records and then they enter into negotiations over the desired information. In this case, however, the government, in its letter to the AP, cited an exemption to those rules that holds that prior notification can be waived if such notice, in the exemption's wording, might "pose a substantial threat to the integrity of the investigation."The full guidance from the DOJ is available in the department's United States Attorneys' Manual.
The investigation involves an attempt to find the source of a leak of classified information to the media.
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