The Bush administration is desperately trying to plug leaks of classified information to journalists by launching investigations of those journalists and their sources. Several FBI investigations are underway, the CIA is administering polygraph tests all over the agency, and the Justice Department is hinting that journalists might be prosecuted under the Espionage Act.

According to Sunday’s Washington Post, large numbers of government employees across several agencies have received letters warning them not to talk to the press or release any information, classified or not.

And the FBI is investigating the Sacramento Bee due to its publishing documents related to a Lodi, Calif., terrorism case last July.

Disclosing classified information without authorization has long been against the law, yet such leaks are one of the realities of life in Washington — accounting for much of the back-channel conversation that goes on daily among journalists, policy intellectuals, and current and former government officials.

Presidents have also long complained about leaks: Richard Nixon’s infamous “plumbers” were originally set up to plug them, and he tried, but failed, to prevent publication of a classified history of the Vietnam War called the Pentagon Papers. Ronald Reagan exclaimed at one point that he was “up to my keister” in leaks.

Bush administration officials, who complain that reports about detainee abuse, clandestine surveillance and other topics have endangered the nation during a time of war, have arguably taken a more aggressive approach than other recent administrations, including a clear willingness to take on journalists more directly if necessary.

“Almost every administration has kind of come in saying they want an open administration, and then getting bad press and fuming about leaks,” said David Greenberg, a Rutgers University journalism professor and author of “Nixon’s Shadow.” “But it’s a pretty fair statement to say you haven’t seen this kind of crackdown on leaks since the Nixon administration.”

But David B. Rivkin Jr., a partner at Baker & Hostetler in Washington and a senior lawyer in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, said the leaking is “out of control,” especially given the unique threat posed by terrorist groups.

“We’re at the end of this paradigm where we had this sort of gentlemen’s agreement where you had leaks and journalists were allowed to protect the leakers,” Rivkin said. “Everyone is playing Russian roulette now.” — Washington Post

Oh, no, it’s the overblown terrorist threat again! If you publish any information which everybody already knows, but it’s classified, you’re going to have to go to prison, because you’re part of the evil Red menace destroying this country from within!

The Justice Department said “there plainly is no exemption” for the press under the Espionage Act, but added: A “prosecution under the espionage laws of an actual member of the press for publishing classified information leaked to it by a government source would raise legitimate and serious issues and would not be undertaken lightly, indeed, the fact that there has never been such a prosecution speaks for itself.” — Ibid.

All that tells me is that they haven’t had the guts to take on the press yet. Maybe this is why the government has been aggressively re-classifying ancient documents which have been unclassified for years, so as to have a reason to go after the press. But the last time I checked, the Constitution trumped the Espionage Act. Such a prosecution would face an as-applied challenge and likely be thrown out on that basis.

I’ve got an extensive archive of hundreds of posts here, as of this date, and at least a few of them contain information which, while developed entirely from open sources, may also be the same information contained in a classified document somewhere that I’ve never seen in my life. Or perhaps I used an unclassified document that, after being let out of the bottle, somebody decided to try to stuff back in. How long until the jackbooted thugs are kicking down my door and accusing me of being an enemy of the state?

For the record, I am a friend of the liberty our ancestors, forefathers, and brothers fought and died for. To the extent the Bush Administration undermines and destroys that liberty, I am to that same extent in opposition to it. Save a cell for me at Gitmo.

“I am not a crook,” said President…oh, wait, wrong President. Or is it?