The expanding investigation into leaks that threaten national security includes people in Congress and the White House, the director of U.S. national intelligence said at a briefing on Friday.
Investigators are looking into a torrent of criminal leaks to the media and foreign adversaries that occurred since President Donald Trump took office. The volume of active investigations has tripled since the end of the previous administration, according to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and the leaks originate from numerous branches of the government and intelligence community.
Four people have already been charged for disclosing classified information or concealing contacts with foreign intelligence officers, Sessions said.
To deal with the exploding number of leaks, the FBI created a new counterintelligence unit. Sessions also assigned FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to actively monitor progress in the active investigations.
“This nation must end the culture of leaks,” Sessions said at a press conference on Thursday morning. “We will not allow rogue anonymous sources with security clearances to sell out our country any longer.”
Sessions’s announcement comes the day after The Washington Post published two leaked transcripts of President Trump’s conversations with the presidents of Mexico and Australia.
While relatively rare during the administrations of Barack Obama and George Bush, leaks are pouring at a rate of one per day during the Trump administration, according to a report released on July 6 by the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
