Reporters Committee statement on subpoena issued to New York Times freelancer

New reporting from the New York Times indicates that a freelancer has been fighting a subpoena he received in February of this year after reporting about a failed Navy SEAL Team 6 mission that took place in 2019.

Between 2001 and the beginning of the second Trump administration, the Department of Justice issued grand jury subpoenas seeking to force reporters to appear in person and reveal their confidential sources in three national security leak cases: Judith Miller and Matthew Cooper, Mike Levine, and James Risen (who received a trial subpoena as well). The department has also sought to identify sources and obtain confidential information in national security leak cases through search warrants as well as by metadata demands using subpoenas or court orders.

In response, Reporters Committee President Bruce D. Brown made the following statement:

“In the last 25 years, there have only been three attempts in national security leaks cases to force reporters to name their sources and now we have four attempts – that we know of – in the space of a few months, two of them directed at news stories published in the Times.

“Whether the investigative journalism the public relies on comes from staff reporters, or from solo newsletter writers, this news of yet another grand jury subpoena, this one served on freelancer Matthew Cole, makes it very clear that the protections that shield the institutional press from government snooping into confidential source relationships are equally vital for independent journalists.

“The public should be alarmed, the reporters will stay resolute.”