Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has called for the appointment of a special counsel to look into national security leaks to the media charging they are calculated to help President Barack Obama’s re-election bid.
The 2008 GOP standard bearer called on the president to appoint a special counsel in a speech on the floor of the Senate,
The Washington Post’s 2chambers blog reported.
McCain said the leaks are part of a “broader administration effort to paint a portrait of President Obama as a strong leader on national security issues.” He added that there was no reason for the information to be in the public domain and said releasing it “only harms our national security and the men and women sworn to protect it,” the Post reported.
McCain cited a number of reports including a New York Times account of Obama’s approval of a “kill list” for drone attacks, reports about cyberattacks on Iran’s nuclear program, and a book that reported on the administration’s dealings on the detention of terrorists.
“Our enemies now know much more than they even did the day before they came out about important aspects of the nation’s unconventional offensive capability and how we use them,” McCain said according to the Post. “Such disclosures can only undermine similar ongoing or future operations and, in this sense, compromise national security. For this reason, regardless of how politically useful these leaks may be to the President, they have to stop.”
The FBI is launching an investigation into who leaked information to the Times about Stuxnet, a cyberattack program that targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities.
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