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Pentagon and Justice Department build joint task force to prosecute media leaks

Pentagon and Justice Department build joint task force to prosecute media leaks

Rule Changes

The prosecutor who signed reporter subpoenas faces a Senate test over his fitness to lead national intelligence

July 15th, 2026: Clayton faces Senate questions over reporter subpoenas at DNI hearing

Overview

Updated Jul 15

Federal agents served four New York Times reporters with grand-jury subpoenas on July 10. The subpoenas were signed by Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan and Trump's nominee to direct the intelligence community. The reporters must appear before a federal grand jury in New York on July 16.

On July 13, the Pentagon and Justice Department stood up a joint task force to pursue leakers. It gives their lawyers two days to compel records from any department component. Clayton testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on July 15; senators asked whether the prosecutor who subpoenaed reporters should direct U.S. intelligence.

Why it matters

A standing task force that can compel records in 48 hours changes the odds that a federal employee who talks to a reporter gets caught and charged.

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Key Indicators

4–5
Times reporters subpoenaed
Four bylined reporters received grand-jury subpoenas; a fifth, Adam Goldman, may also have been served.
2 days
Records compliance window
Pentagon components must fully answer the general counsel's requests within two days.
1917
Espionage Act year
The century-old law most often used to charge government leakers.
Permanent
Task force status
The body is structured as a standing mechanism, not a one-off review.

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People Involved

Pete Hegseth
Pete Hegseth
U.S. Secretary of Defense
Announced and now oversees the leak task force
 Pam Bondi
Pam Bondi
U.S. Attorney General
Leads the Justice Department side of the task force
 Jodie Ginsberg
Jodie Ginsberg
CEO, Committee to Protect Journalists
Leading press-freedom pushback
 Julian E. Barnes
Julian E. Barnes
New York Times national security reporter
Subpoenaed to a grand jury
 Jay Clayton
Jay Clayton
U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York; Trump nominee for Director of National Intelligence
Signed reporter subpoenas; testified at Senate DNI confirmation hearing July 15
 Joe Kahn
Joe Kahn
Executive Editor, The New York Times
Publicly opposing the subpoenas
 Bruce D. Brown
Bruce D. Brown
President, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
Publicly opposing the subpoenas

Organizations Involved

Pentagon Office of General Counsel
Pentagon Office of General Counsel
Government legal office
Holds the new compulsion power

The Pentagon's top legal office, now empowered to demand any leak-related records from across the department within two days.
The New York Times
The New York Times
News organization
Fighting subpoenas; grand jury appearance for reporters set for July 16

The newspaper whose Air Force One reporting triggered the subpoenas at the center of this story.

Timeline

6 events Latest: July 15th, 2026 · 2 months ago
Tap a bar to jump to that date

  1. Clayton faces Senate questions over reporter subpoenas at DNI hearing

    Latest Political

    Jay Clayton, Trump's nominee for Director of National Intelligence and the U.S. attorney who signed the NYT subpoenas, testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Senators question whether his decision to subpoena reporters disqualifies him for the post.

  2. Policy details institutionalize the crackdown

    Policy

    Reporting confirms the Office of General Counsel can compel any Pentagon component to hand over leak records within two days.

  3. Hegseth announces joint leak task force

    Statement

    Hegseth says the Pentagon and Justice Department formed a task force to find and prosecute leakers, and gives lawyers a two-day compulsion power.

  4. Press groups call subpoenas an escalation

    Reaction

    The Committee to Protect Journalists and other advocates warn the subpoenas threaten press freedom and chill reporting.

  5. Justice Department subpoenas four reporters

    Legal

    Agents serve grand-jury subpoenas on Times reporters Julian Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager, and Eric Schmitt, some at their homes.

  6. Times reports Air Force One security gaps

    Publication

    The New York Times reports the Qatari-donated presidential plane lacks antimissile defenses built into the older aircraft.

Scenarios

1

Justice Department charges a government leaker

Possible Resolves by End of 2026

Discussed by: Military Times, The Washington Post

The task force identifies a Pentagon or intelligence employee as the source and the Justice Department files criminal charges, likely under the Espionage Act. This is the task force's stated purpose, and the two-day records power is built to make sourcing faster. A named defendant would be the clearest sign the mechanism works as designed.

2

Court quashes or narrows the Times subpoenas

Possible Resolves by Q1 2027

Discussed by: Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

The New York Times fights the grand-jury subpoenas and a federal court either quashes them or sharply limits what reporters must reveal. Press-freedom lawyers point to past cases where prosecutors backed down rather than jail a journalist. A ruling for the Times would blunt the enforcement push before any leaker is charged.

3

Task force keeps running past its first year

Likely Resolves by Jul 14, 2027

Discussed by: The Hill, IBTimes UK

The joint task force remains active and continues issuing taskings, confirming the shift is durable rather than symbolic. Because the policy delegates standing authority to the Office of General Counsel, it does not need renewal to persist. Continued public activity, new subpoenas, or additional investigations would show the mechanism has stuck.

4

Senate blocks Clayton's DNI confirmation over subpoena role

Possible Resolves by Q3 2026

Discussed by: HuffPost, The Intercept, Reporters Without Borders, Indivisible

Progressive groups are pressing Democratic senators to vote against Jay Clayton, citing his decision to sign grand-jury subpoenas against journalists. Critics argue a prosecutor who uses grand juries to compel reporters' testimony should not direct U.S. intelligence. A defection from a single Republican senator could sink the nomination.

Historical Context

3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

June 1971

Pentagon Papers (1971)

The Nixon administration tried to stop the Times and Washington Post from publishing a secret history of the Vietnam War leaked by analyst Daniel Ellsberg. The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the government could not block publication.

Then

The papers kept publishing and Ellsberg was charged, though his case later collapsed over government misconduct.

Now

The ruling set a high bar against prior restraint and became the anchor case for U.S. press freedom.

Why this matters now

It marks the constitutional floor this story sits above. The 2026 effort targets sources and reporters after the fact, not publication itself, the line the 1971 case drew.

2010

James Rosen named as co-conspirator (2010)

Investigators labeled Fox News reporter James Rosen a possible co-conspirator under the Espionage Act to get a warrant for his emails and phone logs in a State Department leak case. No charges were ever filed against him.

Then

The tactic sparked an outcry once it became public in 2013.

Now

It fed the debate over whether the Espionage Act can be turned against journalists, not just their sources.

Why this matters now

The 2026 task force revives that question. Subpoenaing reporters directly tests how far the government can reach toward the journalists themselves.

May 2013

AP phone records seizure (2013)

The Justice Department secretly subpoenaed two months of phone records for about 20 Associated Press reporters, hunting the source of a story about a foiled Yemen bomb plot. The AP called it a massive and unprecedented intrusion into news-gathering.

Then

The disclosure drew bipartisan criticism and public apology pressure on the department.

Now

Attorney General Eric Holder tightened the rules for subpoenaing reporters, making media-leak investigations harder to pursue.

Why this matters now

It shows the same tool in reverse. Where 2013 ended in tighter limits on going after reporters, the 2026 task force builds a standing machine to do more of it.

Sources

(11)
+5
Military Times The Washington Post NewscastStudio NPR CNN PBS NewsHour The Intercept HuffPost Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press U.S. News & World Report PBS NewsHour