https://money.cnn.com/2018/07/09/media/marcy-wheeler-journalist-reveal-source-fbi/index.html
A prominent national security blogger revealed last week that she had provided the identity of a source last year to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a move that led to her becoming a witness in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election meddling.
Marcy Wheeler, the blogger, said the disclosure of her contact with the FBI was only being made now to "put a face to the human danger" she contends House Republicans are putting confidential informants in by demanding the Department of Justice provide Congress information that could unmask such confidential sources.
The decision by a journalist to reveal a source's identity to the FBI, and provide the law enforcement agency with information on the individual, without the person's explicit permission, is highly unusual. Journalists are trusted by sources to protect their identities at all cost, and reporters have previously chosen to be jailed to defend such arrangements.
But Wheeler, the publisher of the Empty Wheel blog, wrote that she felt compelled to talk to authorities about an individual she was convinced "played a significant role in the Russian election attack on the US." Wheeler has not publicly named her source, but she told CNN in a Monday phone interview that the person "definitely did not want me to go to the FBI" and cautioned her in a text message against doing so.
"On its face, I broke one of the cardinal rules of journalism," Wheeler told The Washington Post in a story published Sunday, "but what he was doing should cause a source to lose protection."
"It's not a decision I regret," she added.
Wheeler first revealed in a July 3 blog post on her website that she had gone to the FBI with information about her source. Wheeler said that her source had contacted her in November 2016, suggesting that he had "very good intel" that Michael Flynn, the former national security advisor, would be in Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad's camp soon.
Wheeler said in her blog post her source was not "inside the Trump team." But, beyond that, she did not reveal much else, declining to say precisely when last year she went to the FBI or elaborate on the role she believes her source played in Russian election meddling.
A prominent national security blogger revealed last week that she had provided the identity of a source last year to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a move that led to her becoming a witness in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election meddling.
Marcy Wheeler, the blogger, said the disclosure of her contact with the FBI was only being made now to "put a face to the human danger" she contends House Republicans are putting confidential informants in by demanding the Department of Justice provide Congress information that could unmask such confidential sources.
The decision by a journalist to reveal a source's identity to the FBI, and provide the law enforcement agency with information on the individual, without the person's explicit permission, is highly unusual. Journalists are trusted by sources to protect their identities at all cost, and reporters have previously chosen to be jailed to defend such arrangements.
But Wheeler, the publisher of the Empty Wheel blog, wrote that she felt compelled to talk to authorities about an individual she was convinced "played a significant role in the Russian election attack on the US." Wheeler has not publicly named her source, but she told CNN in a Monday phone interview that the person "definitely did not want me to go to the FBI" and cautioned her in a text message against doing so.
"On its face, I broke one of the cardinal rules of journalism," Wheeler told The Washington Post in a story published Sunday, "but what he was doing should cause a source to lose protection."
"It's not a decision I regret," she added.
Wheeler first revealed in a July 3 blog post on her website that she had gone to the FBI with information about her source. Wheeler said that her source had contacted her in November 2016, suggesting that he had "very good intel" that Michael Flynn, the former national security advisor, would be in Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad's camp soon.
Wheeler said in her blog post her source was not "inside the Trump team." But, beyond that, she did not reveal much else, declining to say precisely when last year she went to the FBI or elaborate on the role she believes her source played in Russian election meddling.
