Understatement of the Day

A federal official tells ABC News that it used to be hard for the FBI to track reporters' telephone calls -- but that it isn't anymore.

Published May 16, 2006 1:08PM (EDT)

As we reported Monday, ABC's Brian Ross and Richard Esposito say that a senior law enforcement official has told them that the government is tracking their telephone calls. The reporters are up with another post on the issue now, and this time they say that the FBI "has acknowledged that it is increasingly seeking reporters' phone records in leak investigations."

A senior federal official says: "It used to be very hard and complicated to do this, but it no longer is in the Bush administration."


By Tim Grieve

Tim Grieve is a senior writer and the author of Salon's War Room blog.

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