Former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Friday that she is concerned that Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ war to uncover leaks from the White House will go too far if the government starts issuing subpoenas for media sources.
Former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Friday that she is concerned that Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ war to uncover leaks from the White House will go too far if the government starts issuing subpoenas for media sources.
“There should be an extraordinarily high bar and a factual showing of what damage to the national security has been done before that can occur, ” Napolitano, who served under President Barack Obama, told MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” program.
President Donald Trump has “basically declared the media the enemy, ” said Napolitano, and extra care must be taken that the government does not ignite a media war under the guise of ending the nation’s culture of leaks.
She agreed with Mitchell that means the Justice Department would not only be going after people who leak details that could be embarrassing to the president, but instead seeking out those leaking information that could be damaging to national security.
However, she did agree that a president does need to have confidence they can have a private conversation with other heads of state, rather than have them leaked, like the conversations between Trump and the presidents of Mexico and Australia that were released to The Washington Post.
“That particular leak endangered national security versus being on the more embarrassing end of the spectrum, ” said Napolitano.
Napolitano said Friday she is also concerned by reports that the Secret Service has had a dispute with the Trump Organization resulting in the loss of space in Trump Tower and instead are in new command post on the street.
“I think it is a concern, and I think it’s indicative of the fact that the president and his family are very expensive to protect and protect in the right way, ” she said. “We see this also with the Coast Guard in providing security around Mar-a-Lago, the increased expense of that at a time when the Trump budget cuts the Coast Guard budget. So I think if we want to ensure protection that the level that we have historically provided, then there needs to be a give on either side. Either on the Trump Tower side or on the funding of the Secret Service side.”
