Arizona lawmaker tries again to weaken free press

Lawmakers and their staff have access to classified material in reports submitted for the consideration of Congress by our many and varied government agencies.

Congress, though, is a drafty old place and information leaks out from time to time, for a variety of reasons. Sometimes the leaks are strategic and part of some senators or representatives plan to get something done. Sometimes information is leaked to embarrass or ruin political opponents. Sometimes its just plain carelessness. And now and then a good citizen in some congressional office leaks information to expose government wrongdoing.

When a newspaper or other media outlet gets such information, there is always a debate about whether the information should be published.

That debate goes on within the media organization as well as outside. Not all information makes it into print. Publishers and editors exercise their best judgment on a case-by-case basis, determining whether making such information available would benefit or harm the public.

Thats the way the game is played. Washington leaks information for its own reasons, the media uses it if we see the need.

But an Arizona senator wants to change the rules.

U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., has already tried making it a crime for a newspaper to print classified information regarding the war on terror leaked by members of Congress or their staffers.

That attempt to sabotage the First Amendment and make prior restraint the law of the land got a lot of attention not the good kind and Kyl withdrew his proposal.

Now Kyl is using the same ammo at a different target, but with the same goal in mind. His new proposal calls for a 10-year prison term for any government employee leaking information on the terrorism effort.

While this might sound reasonable, even vital to national security, the wording is far too broad and allows government officials far too much power. When you can classify any information you want and use the threat of prison to keep such info under wraps, you can operate with no oversight and no accountability.

It would be very tempting to simply classify all evidence of wrongdoing, or even just of incompetence.

Just as there is a legitimate need for secrecy, there is a legitimate need for some information to find its way into the light of public scrutiny.

Lets just hope Congress as a whole understands that need and turns down Kyls proposal.