The Justice Department is obligated to investigate leaks that could endanger national security, but the secret seizure of Associated Press telephone records – called a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" by the news organization – is unusual, according to two former attorneys general.
Gonzales said under the Bush administration, such an investigation would have required the approval of a deputy attorney general and likely the attorney general. But he said he could not speak for the Obama administration, saying guidance within its DOJ might not have required Attorney General Eric Holder to know of the probe.
....Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who succeeded Gonzales in the Bush administration, said leaks are serious business, but expressed reservations about the scope of the DOJ action.
"When it comes to national security, I think the government has every right to investigate," Mukasey said. "People do not have a right to leak confidential government information."
However, Mukasey noted, they have to do it with a "narrow focus."
"The AP suggests it was a broader gathering of information that should never have been authorized," he told Fox News. Mukasey said it would be troubling if it is found that "they [the government] were looking more broadly to discourage people to talk to reporters."
Mark Corallo, chief spokesman for another Bush attorney general, John Ashcroft, called the secret probe "unprecedented
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