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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 


REPORT ON REVIEW OF NEWS MEDIA POLICIES 


JULY 12, 2013 

In May 2013, at the President's direction, the Attorney General initiated a comprehensive 

evaluation of the Department ofJustice's policies and practices governing the use of law 

enforcement tools, including subpoenas, court orders, and search warrants, to obtain information 

or records frQm or concerning members of the news media in criminal and civil investigations. 

As part of this process, the Attorney General convened a series of meetings to solicit input from 

a wide range of news media stakeholders, First Amendment academics and advocates, and 

Members of Congress. Based on this review, the Attorney General is making significant 

revisions to the Department's policies regarding investigations that involve members of the news 

media. 

As an initial matter, it bears emphasis that it has been and remains the Department's 

policy that members of the news media will not be subject to prosecution based solely on 

newsgathering activities. Furthermore, in light of the importance of the constitutionally 

protected newsgathering process, the Department views the use of tools to seek evidence from or 

involving the news media as an extraordinary measure. The Department's policy is to utilize 

such tools only as a last resort, after all reasonable alternative investigative steps have been 

taken, and when the information sought is essential to a successful investigation or prosecution. 

The changes in policy outlined in this report are intended to further ensure the 

Department strikes the appropriate balance between two vital interests: protecting the American 

people by pursuing those who vio late their oaths through unlawful disclosures of information 

and safeguarding the essential role of a free press in fostering government accountability and an 

open society. As set forth in more detail below, the Department's policy revisions strengthen 

protections for members of the news media by, among other things, requiring more robust 

oversight by senior Department officials and by clarifying and expanding the presumption of 

negotiations with, and notice to, members of the news media when Department attorneys request 

authorization to seek newsgathering records. 

In addition, as the President and Attorney General have long stated, the Administration 

will continue to support efforts within Congress to pass a media shield law, which would codify 

many of the principles that inform the policy guidance described in this report. While the 

Department intends to take significant steps to improve its policies with respect to investigations 

involving the news media, the Department calIDot adopt certain measures without legislative 

action. A media shield law would, for example, provide a new mechanism for advance judicial 

review of the use of investigative tools such as subpoenas when they involve the news media, 

within a framework that establishes procedures for review and appeal, including expedited 

judicial determinations and under seal or ex parte review for good cause. The Department looks 

forward to working with Congress as it considers media shield legislation. 
Revisions to Department of Justice News Media Policies 

I. Reversing the Existing Presumption Regarding Advance Notice 

The first and most significant policy change would be to reverse and expand the 

presumption concerning notice to, and negotiations with, affected members of the news media 

whenever Department attorneys seek access to their records related to newsgathering activities. 

The presumption will ensure notice in all but the most exceptional cases. 

Current policy provides that negotiations with the news media should occur in cases 

where the "responsible Assistant Attorney General detennines that such negotiations would not 

pose a substantial threat to the integrity of the investigation," a detennination that is then 

" reviewed by" the Attorney General when considering issuance of a subpoena to a third party for 

news media records. 28 C.F.R. § 50.10 (emphasis added). Under the new policy, the 

presumption of advance notice will be overcome only if the Attorney General affinnatively 

determines, taking into account recommendations from the newly established News Media 

Review Committee described below, that for compelling reasons, advance notice and 

negotiations lVould pose a clear and substantial threat to the integrity of the investigation, risk 

grave harm to national security, or present an imminent risk of death or serious bodily hann. 

The possibility that notice and negotiations with the media, and potential judicial review, may 

delay the investigation will not, on its own, be considered a compelling reason under this 

updated policy. 

Advance notice will afford members of the news media the opportunity to engage with 

the Department regarding the proposed use of investigative tools to obtain communications or 

business records, and also provide the news media with the opportunity to challenge the 

government's use of such tools in federal court. By strengthening the presumption in favor of 

notice, and providing that notice be deferred only where the Attorney General, after a review by 

a committee of senior Department officials, finds that notice would present a clear and 

substantial threat to the investigation, grave harm to national security, or imminent risk of death 

or serious bodily harnl, the Department's new policy reflects the gravity of the deci sion to forgo 

negotiations with, or delay notification to, affected members of the news media. 

It is expected that only the rare case would present the Attorney General with the 

requisite compelling reasons to justify a delayed notification. Under this updated policy, if a 

determination is made by the Attorney General to delay notification for an initial 45-day period, 

only the Attorney General may authorize a delay of notification for up to an additional 45 days, 

and even then, only if the Attorney General again detennines, after an additional review by the 

News Media Review Committee, that, for compelling reasons, notice would pose a clear and 

substantial threat to the integrity of the investigation, grave hann to national security, or 

imminent risk of death or serious bodily harm. No further delays may be sought beyond the 90­

day period. 

These changes regarding notice would enhance the protections already found in 28 

C.F.R. § 50.1 0. In addition, Department policy would make clear that when Department 

attorneys seek news media-related materials, they should employ search methods - such as 

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computer search protocols and keyword searches - to limit the scope of intrusion into potentially 

protected materials. These strategies will assist in balancing the need for law enforcement to 

collect necessary evidence from, or relating to, targets of criminal investigations with the 

legitimate news gathering functions of the media. 

II. 	 Enhanced Approvals and Heightened Standards for Use of Search Warrants and 

Section 2703(d) Orders 

The Privacy Protection Act of \980 (PPA), 42 U.S.C. § 2000aa, generally prohibits the 

search or seizure of work product and documentary materials held by individuals who have a 

purpose to disseminate information to the public. The PPA, however, contains a number of 

exceptions to its general prohibition, including the "suspect exception" which applies when there 

is "probable cause to believe that the person possessing such materials has committed or is 

committing a criminal offense to which the materials relate," including "the receipt, possession, 

or communication ofinfonnation relating to the national defense, classified information, or 

restricted data" under enumerated code provisions. See 42 U.S.c. §§ 2000aa(a)(\) and (b)(\). 

Under current Department policy, a Deputy Assistant Attorney General may authorize an 

application for a search warrant that is covered by the PPA, and no higher level reviews or 

approvals are required. 

First, the Department will modify its policy concerning search warrants covered by the 

PPA involving members ofthe news media to provide that work product materials and other 

documents may be sought under the "suspect exception" of the PPA only when the member of 

the news media is the focus of a criminal investigation for conduct not connected to ordinary 

newsgathering activities. Under this revised policy, the Department would not seek search 

warrants under the PPA 's suspect exception if the sole purpose is the investigation of a person 

other than the member of the news media. 

Second, the Department would revise current policy to elevate the current approval 

requirements and require the approval ofthe Attorney General for all search warrants and court 

orders issued pursuant to 18 U.S.c. § 2703(d) directed at members ofthe news media. In 

addition, as part of the new approval process the Attorney General would consider the factors in 

28 C.F .R. § 50.10 - which currently apply to subpoenas to members ofthe news media or to 

communication service providers for the telephone toll records ofmembers of the news media, 

but not to search warrants or § 2703(d) orders - including demonstrating that the infonnation 

sought is essential to a successful investigation, that other reasonable alternative investigative 

steps to obtain the information have been exhausted, and that the request has been narrowly 

tailored to obtain only the infonnation necessary for the investigation (including the use of 

search methods that limit any intrusion into potentially protected materials, as described above). 

The presumption of notice, and standards applicable to requests for delayed notice, will also 

apply to search warrants and § 2703(d) orders that seek access to records of members of the 

news media related to newsgathering activities. A thorough evaluation ofrelevant 

considerations, including these factors, will be presented to the Deputy Attorney General, and 

ultimately the Attorney General, for authorization. This policy change will bring the approval 

protocols for search warrants issued under the PPA and § 2703(d) orders in line with those 

required for other investigative tools that implicate records of members of the news media. 

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III. Establishment of News Media Review Committee 

The Department will create a standing News Media Review Committee, akin to its 

Capital Case Review Committee and State Secrets Review Committee, to advise the Attorney 

General and Deputy Attorney General when Department attorneys request authorization to seek 

media-related records in investigations into the unauthorized disclosure of information; when 

Department attorneys request authorization to seek media-related records in any law enforcement 

investigation without providing prior notice to the relevant member of the media; and when 

Department attorneys request authorization to seek testimony from a member of the media that 

would disclose the identity of a confidential source. The News Media Review Committee will 

include senior Department officials, including but not limited to the Department's Director of the 

Office of Public Affairs and the Department's Chief Privacy and Civil Liberties Officer. 

Members of the committee will have the opportunity to provide both individual and collective 

assessments of the merits of requests and to raise relevant issues for consideration by the Deputy 

Attorney General and the Attorney General. This committee will ensure that senior Department 

officials with relevant expertise and experience, and who are neither directly involved nor playa 

supervisory role in the investigations involved, are engaged in the consideration of the use of 

investigative tools that involve members of the news media. 

IV. Centralization of Review and Public Reporting Requirements 

To ensure consistency in the evaluation of requests for authorization to use legal process 

to obtain information from, or records of, members of the news media, the Department will 

require that all such requests be submitted to, and initially evaluated by, the Criminal Division's 

Office of Enforcement Operations before they are ultimately forwarded to the Attorney General 

for decision. Additionally, recognizing the special concerns related to using legal process to seek 

information from or about the news media, Department policy will be revised to require that 

requests for authorization to use legal process to obtain information from, or records of, members 

of the news media be expressly endorsed by the relevant United States Attorney or Assistant 

Attorney General before submission to the Criminal Division for review and evaluation. 

To further enhance oversight and to facilitate the Department's tracking of the outcome 

of news media subpoenas, Department attorneys will be required to report to the Criminal 

Division's Office of Enforcement Operations whether an approved subpoena, court order, or 

search warrant was issued, served, or executed, and whether the affected member of the news 

media or recipient of the subpoena, court order, or search warrant complied with or challenged 

the subpoena, court order, or search warrant, and the outcome of any such challenge. From this 

information, the Department will make public, on an annual basis, statistical data regarding the 

use of media-related process. 

V. Intelligence Community Certification 

In investigations of unauthorized disclosures of national defense information or of 

classified information, under the Department's revised policy the Director of National 

Intelligence after consultation with the relevant Department or agency head, would certify to the 

Attorney General the significance of the harm that could have been caused by the unauthorized 

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disclosure and reaffinn the intelligence community's continued support for the investigation and 

prosecution before the Attorney General authorizes the Department to seek media-related records 

in such investigations. The certification will be sought not more than 30 days prior to 

submission of the approval request to the Attorney General, and will formalize current practice 

by providing the Attorney General with information about whether the infonnation disclosed was 

properly classified, whether the disclosure could have caused harm to the national security or 

foreign policy of the United States, and whether the victim Department or agency continues to 

support the investigation and potential prosecution of persons responsible for the unauthorized 

disclosure. This change will ensure that the Department's investigative efforts are consistent 

with the harm assessment of the relevant intelligence agency prior to employing investigative 

tools involving members of the news media. 

VI. Safeguarding Information 

The Department's policies will be revised to provide fonnal safeguards regarding the 

proper use and handling of communications records of members of the news media. Among 

other things, the revisions will provide that with respect to information obtained pursuant to the 

Department's news media policy: (i) access to records will be limited to Department personnel 

who are working on the investigation and have a need to know the infonnation; (ii) the records 

will be used solely in connection with the investigation and related judicial proceedings; (iii) the 

records will not be shared with any other organization or individual inside or outside of the 

government, except as part of the investigation or as required in the course ofjudicial 

proceedings; and (iv) at the conclusion of all proceedings related to or arising from the 

investigation, other than information disclosed in the course ofjudicial proceedings or as 

required by law, only one copy of records will be maintained in a secure, segregated repository 

that is not searchable. Under circumstances where the Deputy Attorney General finds that 

specific, identifiable records are evidence ofa separate past or imminent crime involving 

(i) death; (ii) kidnapping; (iii) substantial bodily hann; (iv) conduct that constitutes a criminal 

offense that is a specified offense against a minor as defined in 42 U.S.c. § 16911; or (v) 

incapacitation or destruction of critical infrastructure as defined in 42 U .S.C. § 5195c( e), the 

Deputy Attorney General may authorize broader use of the infonnation. 

VII. Technical Revisions 

The Department will also make additional technical revisions to the Department's 

policies regarding news media subpoenas. Most significantly, to account for technological 

changes in news gathering, distribution, and publication, the Department's policies regarding the 

use of legal process to obtain infonnation from, or records of, members of the news media will 

be revised to make clear that those policies apply to "communications records" or "business 

records" of members of the news media that are stored or maintained by third parties. 

VIII. Written Guidance and Training Requirements 

In order to ensure that these policy revisions are incorporated into all of the Department's 

operations, the changes described herein will be formalized in guidance to the Department's law 

enforcement officials and attorneys. The Department will also take steps to incorporate these 

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policy revisions into the United States Attorney's Manual, and through revisions to the 

governing 28 C.F.R. § 50.10, where appropriate. Additionall y, the Department will prepare 

training materials regarding these new policies for dissemination to the Department's law 

enforcement officials and attorneys. 

IX. Establishment of News Media Dialogue Group 

The Department will establish an Attorney General's News Media Dialogue Group to 

assess the impact of the Department's revised news media policies and to maintain a dialogue 

with the news media. This group will meet six months after the proposed revisions to the 

Department's news media pol icies are effective and on an annual basis thereafter. The group 

will meet to discuss any policy issues relating to the application of the Department's news media 

policies. The group will include members of the news media, attorneys from various Department 

components, and the Director of the Department's Office of Public Affairs. 

X. Intell igence Agency Administrative Remedies 

Cases involving the unauthorized disclosure of classified or national defense information 

are inherently difficult to investigate and prosecute; they are time and resource intensive, pose 

complex issues regarding intel ligence equities in the disclosure of certain information, require a 

careful narrowing of the universe of individuals privy to the information and identifying the 

leaker, and require proof of harm that may itself result in further hannful disclosures. The 

Department will work with others in the Administration to explore ways in which the 

intelligence agencies themselves, in the first instance, can address information leaks internally 

through administrative means, such as the withdrawal of security clearances and imposition of 

other sanctions. 

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