This was pulled from the ABC News blog.  Interesting.

Federal Source to ABC News: We Know Who You’re Calling

A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we call in an effort to root out confidential sources.

"It’s time for you to get some new cell phones, quick," the source told us in an in-person conversation.

I like the irony of using a leak to warn you that your attempts to use leaks are being investigated.

ABC News does not know how the government determined who we are calling, or whether our phone records were provided to the government as part of the recently-disclosed NSA collection of domestic phone calls.

You might want to consider that any calls made to a government office are open season for monitoring, and any employee of a government agency are as well.

Other sources have told us that phone calls and contacts by reporters for ABC News, along with the New York Times and the Washington Post, are being examined as part of a widespread CIA leak investigation.

One former official was asked to sign a document stating he was not a confidential source for New York Times reporter James Risen.

Our reports on the CIA’s secret prisons in Romania and Poland were known to have upset CIA officials.

Of course the fact they are suspected of being hoaxes is not mentioned.

People questioned by the FBI about leaks of intelligence information say the CIA was also disturbed by ABC News reports that revealed the use of CIA predator missiles inside Pakistan.

Under Bush Administration guidelines, it is not considered illegal for the government to keep track of numbers dialed by phone customers.

That’s a bit of a distortion.  If you are calling people who have signed confidentiality documents and have security clearences, you are open season no matter what because theya re open season.

The official who warned ABC News said there was no indication our phones were being tapped so the content of the conversation could be recorded.

Oh darn, that would have made this leak front page news…

A pattern of phone calls from a reporter, however, could provide valuable clues for leak investigators.

Yep, and those responsible for the leaks should be in jail.

Look people, the only reason they care is because the media likes to gather classified information and disclose it.  That’s called spying.  People who have access to secure information are considered a risk if they blab it to the media.  That’s how it works.

If you insist on relying on it, you need to realistically expect them to try and target your calls to catch the leakers. 

More here:  ABC News: Federal official says US tracking calls made by ABC News, New York Times, Washington Post

Blogging this:  Outside the Beltway, Talking Points Memo, On Tap,

Others blogging this:  Balloon Juice, The Mahablog, NewsHog, The Next Hurrah, News Blog, The Left Coaster, In From the Cold, Macsmind, War and Piece, The Swamp, Daily Kos, Shakespeare’s Sister, Wonkette, Think Progress, The Carpetbagger Report, Crooks and Liars, Unfogged, Orcinus, The Corner on National …, TalkLeft, The Democratic Daily Blog, Pam’s House Blend, Andrew Sullivan, Booman Tribune, Informed Comment, TheWorldNewser, skippy the bush kangaroo, Mia Culpa and BluegrassReport.org

As you can see the left is making a huge hue and cry about this.  I note none of them seem to condemn the illegal disclosures of confidential information, because they likely all see this as justified.  Well whatever helps you sleep at night.

Me, I hate people who violate their oaths and security clearences.  Their actions can have serious side effects.  And I don’t mind the media getting a wake up call that their constitutional protections are not carte blanche to violate federal law.  They are responsible for their actions, just like anyone.  So if you are plumbing the goverment offices for information, who cares who you call, eh?