{ "slug": "surveillance_and_subpoenas", "name": "Surveillance and subpoenas", "definition": "A government collects journalists' communications or records, often to learn who their sources are. Methods include subpoenas (court orders to hand over records or to testify), search warrants, seizure of phones and notes, demands to telephone and internet companies, and spyware placed on reporters' devices.", "notes": null, "first_recorded_on": "1971-09-09", "incident_count": 3, "by_country": [ { "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "count": 3, "by_year": { "1971": [ { "slug": "1971-nixon-white-house-compiles-enemies-list", "title": "United States: Nixon White House \"enemies list\" naming journalists, September 1971", "occurred_on": "1971-09-09", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas", "tactics": [ "surveillance_and_subpoenas" ], "leader_slug": "richard-nixon", "leader_name": "Richard Nixon", "issue_of_the_day": null, "outcome": "unknown", "outcome_on": null, "outcome_note": "No ruling or formal rescission applies; the lists became public during the Watergate investigations of 1973 to 1974.", "era": "1970s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "On September 9, 1971, the office of Charles Colson, special counsel to the president of the United States, Richard Nixon, sent White House Counsel John Dean, the president's lawyer on official matters, a memorandum naming 20 people as an initial \"enemies list.\" The list named political opponents, including journalists, for possible action through federal agencies, such as tax audits by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the United States federal tax agency. The IRS commissioner, Donald C. Alexander, refused to launch audits of the people on the list. The lists became public during the Watergate investigations into Nixon's White House.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1971-nixon-white-house-compiles-enemies-list" } ], "2013": [ { "slug": "2013-obama-doj-charges-eight-under-espionage-act", "title": "United States: Espionage Act prosecutions of sources for leaks to the press, 2009 to 2013", "occurred_on": "2013-10-10", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "secrets_and_espionage_laws", "tactics": [ "secrets_and_espionage_laws", "surveillance_and_subpoenas" ], "leader_slug": "barack-obama", "leader_name": "Barack Obama", "issue_of_the_day": null, "outcome": "unknown", "outcome_on": null, "outcome_note": "The record documents the prosecutions as a group; the outcome of each case is not recorded here.", "era": "2010s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "A report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a non-profit organization in New York that documents cases of journalists imprisoned or killed worldwide, published on October 10, 2013, found that since 2009 the United States Department of Justice had brought felony charges against six government employees and two contractors, including Edward Snowden, accused of leaking classified information to the press. The charges were brought under the Espionage Act, a 1917 United States law against disclosing defence information, during the presidency of Barack Obama. The Project On Government Oversight, a United States non-profit that investigates the federal government, said the department under Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder \"has used it more than all prior administrations combined.\"", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2013-obama-doj-charges-eight-under-espionage-act" } ], "2025": [ { "slug": "2025-doj-rescinds-media-subpoena-guidelines", "title": "United States: Department of Justice rescission of rules limiting subpoenas of journalists, April 2025", "occurred_on": "2025-04-25", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas", "tactics": [ "surveillance_and_subpoenas" ], "leader_slug": "donald-trump", "leader_name": "Donald Trump", "issue_of_the_day": null, "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2025-04-25", "outcome_note": "In effect since 2025-04-25; the sources cited report no restoration of the earlier rules (as of 2026-09-22).", "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "On April 25, 2025, the Attorney General of the United States, Pam Bondi, head of the Department of Justice, the federal department that prosecutes federal crimes, rescinded rules adopted in 2021 and 2022 under her predecessor, Merrick Garland, that barred prosecutors from seeking reporters' records or testimony to identify the sources of leaks. Bondi's memo said leaks of sensitive information to the media undermine the department's ability \"to uphold the rule of law, protect civil rights, and keep America safe.\" The department returned to a test that weighs law enforcement interests against press freedom, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, a United States non-profit that provides legal help to journalists.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-doj-rescinds-media-subpoena-guidelines" } ] } } ], "downloads": { "csv": "https://thewaronnews.com/tactics/surveillance_and_subpoenas?format=csv", "json": "https://thewaronnews.com/tactics/surveillance_and_subpoenas.json", "md": "https://thewaronnews.com/tactics/surveillance_and_subpoenas.md" }, "license": { "name": "CC BY 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" } }