White House officials, for their part, question whether some reporters broached confidential relationships by either whispering to Starr's staff or hinting in print that Blumenthal had been spreading negative information about Starr's operation. The independent counsel has already been accused of criminalizing the political process. From the media point of view, the sudden focus on private conversations between reporters and White House officials represents another uncomfortable turn in the Lewinsky probe. The Blumenthal subpoena takes the controversy a step further, involving not grand jury information but the daily transactions, many of them conducted under a cloak of anonymity, between journalists and political aides. Information, rumors and tips are shared freely in these conversations, and reporters routinely assume that their role, not just the official's identity, will remain confidential.
Leak investigations tend to be costly, time-consuming and usually fruitless.
Newsday's Timothy Phelps produced a 171-page report that reached no conclusions. William H. Gray III led to the reassignment of two top Justice Department officials who failed polygraph exams. It's disgraceful to do investigations of this nature that appear to be founded on the notion that Blumenthal criticized Ken Starr.