Obama-era rules allow the FBI to spy on journalists without a warrant -- The Republic is dead, all that's left is the funeral

If the press cannot do its job, then the government can do anything with impunity.

Thanks to President Obama, it is no longer safe to be a whistleblower, or a reporter. FBI rules adopted during Obama's tenure allow the FBI to investigate journalists without traditional judicial safeguards. Such powers can allow the FBI to identify sources and have a chilling effect on free speech and whistleblowing.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) -- Classified rules leaked to the media in 2013 reveal that the FBI can spy on journalists without their knowledge, if all they obtain is a "national security letter" )NSL.

An NSL allows federal agents to obtain information vital to an investigation without approval of a judge. Such information can only be things such as phone records and financial records, but never the content of something like a phone call. Still, such records can reveal a journalist's confidential source or identify a whistleblower.

It can open the door to persecution, or prevent a story from reaching the public. It discourages the media from publishing news and information that could be in the public's interest to know.

You can read the leaked FBI document that reveals the worrisome process here.

Over the past decade, we have learned that our government routinely deceives the American public, engages in unethical and even corrupt behavior, and goes to great lengths to keep such activity secret. This is a problem because the government is supposed to work for the American people. The public is the boss of the government, not the other way around. And the media is the agency that provides public oversight of what the government does.

At the same time the media informs the public, the judicial branch provides a brake on government activity. But thanks to the Obama administration, those brakes have literally been removed. Instead of asking a judge to review a subpoena, the NSL only needs to be signed off by a pair of FBI officials. While those officials are high ranking, they are still a within the FBI and the executive branch.

Of course, judicial review is no panacea either. Secret spy courts use judges who rubber stamp National Security Agency requests without any fear of public oversight.

The ability to spy on journalists is alarming because it's further erosion of the press. As the press becomes less able to whistleblow on the government, the government's excesses can proceed unknown and unpunished.

There may be no greater threat to liberty and the Republic than a press muzzled by the government.

Already, government soft-censorship limits reporting on terrorism, and military action overseas. And for anyone to whistleblow on the government is already a dangerous decision. Manning remains in prison, although due for release, and Snowden continues to hide overseas. Julian Assange, who serves as a middleman between whistleblowers and the media remains virtually imprisoned in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Our government has clearly lost its sense of purpose. Our leaders serve themselves and the monied interests to whom they are beholden, not the people. The Republic dies when such laws become thinkable. At this point, all that's left is the public funeral.

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