The American Spectator

Cara Lyons Lege br> Frisco, Texas /p> p> One must ask what would happen to an employee of the CIA, the New York Times — or a congressman, for that matter — who passed highly-classified secrets directly to Al-Qaeda? I suspect they would end up in a federal super-max prison, down the hall from Zacarias Moussaoui, to await execution or life without parole. And rightly so, for the damage done to our ability to thwart the next 9/11 is obvious. The damage done is exactly the same whether state secrets are handed directly to our enemies or passed to them through the New York Times . That’s why we have the “Espionage Act” and the “Disclosure of Classified Information” law (Section 798, Title 18, U.S. Criminal Code). The latter is very explicit that: br> /p>

br> has violated the law. The intent to aid Al-Qaeda or to harm the United States is not a prerequisite for indictment. The act of willful disclosure is the trigger.

I’m in agreement with Mr. Babbin that Alberto Gonzales must aggressively pursue the leakers and the publishers, but would go one step further: If Gonzales doesn’t act now, the President should fire him and appoint an Attorney General who will.