ABC News (The "Blotter" ) reports today that an At&T technician's disclosure of domestic surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA) was blocked, not only by U.S. intelligence officials, but by top editors of the Lost Angeles Times.
ABC's interview of the whistleblower, Mark Klein, will be broadcast tonight on Nightline and World News Tonight. In the interview, ABC says Klein describes how he discovered "secret NSA rooms" at AT&T switching centers around the country, and how he collected documentation that NSA was copying both domestic and international Internet traffic.
According to ABC, Klein took to the Los Angeles Times documents describing "an illegal and Orwellian project."
But after working for two months with LA Times reporter Joe Menn, Klein says he was told the story had been killed at the request of then-Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte and then-director of the NSA Gen. Michael Hayden.
The Los Angeles Times' decision was made by the paper's editor at the time, Dean Baquet, now the Washington bureau chief of The New York Times..
Baguet denies government pressure affected the decision, and offers the explanation that "we did not have a story, that we could not figure out what was going on" based on Klein's highly technical documents."
Klein's account of the interactions is credible because it is consistent with experiences of other whistleblowers who have tried to report illegal activity and gross mismanagement in national security programs. Banquet's explanation, even if true, suggests neglect by the Times in not making an effort to have Klein's disclosure reviewed by independent experts.
According to Klein, squelching the story was not necessary to protect legitimate anti-terroism efforts.
"The only people that are being kept in the dark is the American people who are being misled and not realizing, not being told that their private information, that their liberties are being destroyed and tramped on," he said.
Klein's story supports long-standing concerns by many Americans that mainstream media have been turning a blind eye to Bush administration wrongdoing. Hopefully, ABC News' coverage of the story will motivate other MSM to take more seriously their responsbilities to keep citizens informed about issues as critical to preserving our freedom as any war against foreign threats.