New York Times journalists subpoenaed after reporting on Trump aircraft security
The Pentagon and the Justice Department have created a joint taskforce to identify and prosecute unauthorized disclosures of sensitive information to the press, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday. Hegseth announced the move in a video posted on X, saying he had delegated tasking authority to the Pentagon’s Office of General Counsel to request and receive all information, records and support across the department concerning media leak investigations.
The taskforce announcement follows the Justice Department’s issuance of subpoenas over the weekend to several New York Times journalists, ordering them to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan this week. The subpoenas were issued after the newspaper published articles citing anonymous sources about security concerns regarding President Trump’s new Qatari-gifted aircraft.
According to the Times, the newspaper reported on Wednesday that Trump left Turkey onboard the old Air Force One instead of his new Qatari-gifted aircraft as a security precaution at the urging of the Secret Service. The following day, the Times reported that the new Air Force One lacked some of the advanced security features of the older aircraft. Both stories cited anonymous sources.
Before the first article was published, a senior FBI official contacted a reporter and senior editor asking for the article to be withheld, calling it an issue of national security, but declined to explain the security issue, the Times reported. The official also reportedly requested that the Times disclose its sources for the article, which the Times refused to do.
David McCraw, the Times’s top newsroom lawyer, condemned the subpoenas in a statement, saying that the “appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects.”
The Washington D.C.-based National Press Club said the subpoenas “should alarm every American because it threatens the public’s constitutional right to an independent press.” The New York Times described the subpoenas as an “extraordinary escalation in President Trump’s efforts to threaten and intimidate independent news organizations.”
A spokesperson for the Justice Department told the New York Times on Saturday that the “reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are.” The spokesperson added, “We value and appreciate the important role that the press plays in this country, but DOJ also plays an important role to make sure that the people entrusted with our nation’s secrets do what they’re supposed to do with that information.”
“Leaked information risks lives, these new tools and processes will greatly assist us in protecting our joint force,” Hegseth said in the video. “The security of our nation cannot be a bargaining chip for those who seek momentary headlines, access to confidential and secret information is a sacred trust, and those who betray that trust will be met with the full force of the law.” Hegseth thanked Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche “for his help in this important project,” and said he was “proud that our departments are working together closer than we have ever before.”
Earlier this year, the Justice Department sought to compel testimony from journalists at the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post before withdrawing the subpoenas after they were challenged by the news organizations. In January, federal agents raided the home of a Washington Post reporter as part of an investigation into a government contractor’s handling of classified records.