The NSA can provide to investigators investigative leads related to leaks of classified information on the NSA programs and the CIA activities in Iran. It appears the Prosecutor is shielding some information the NSA has provided to the prosecutor, and would have the public believe the government does not know certain information. The evidence appears to be incomplete by design to protect other NSA programs monitoring domestic communications, and intended to dissuade media reporting of that other illegal activity.

NSA Grand Jury: Government Access To Phone Records

TPMM reports: "A former government official called before a grand jury regarding the case has confirmed that he was shown phone records that prove some in the government had conversations with Risen as he was reporting on the CIA". This deserves some commentary.

Two, separate issues appear to be dovetailing. Risen's reporting is the subject of two high profile issues: The NSA surveillance, and the CIA activities in Iran.

At the grand jury, the former government official was shown phone records records. It appears this former government official has never seen these records until after they left government service, nor were they aware of the communication, monitoring, or records. This monitoring of the government-Risen communications occurred without the government official being aware, and the phone records were presented to them at the grand jury.

Evidence Inconsistent With NSA Capabilities

The NSA can provide to the prosecutor investigative leads. If this has happened, the prosecutor either doesn't want to admit this, or the NSA-provided information has been inconclusive. Most likely, the prosecutor wants to create the impression of one capability, distract attention from known information, and leave a trap for witnesses.

The prosecutors reportedly claim they are still trying to find the Risen sources. Yet, if they have phone records, why would they have to ask anyone. The phone records "should" show who called Risen. Perhaps the issue is they have incomplete information; or they're not being candid with what they are trying to determine.

The prosecutor may be deliberately shielding details about the phone records with the hopes the grand jury members and witnesses will worry; or incorrectly believe that the government has incomplete information. It appears the government doesn't have specific information, so it's attempting to mislead potential witnesses to create the impression of government confusion.

Alleged Prosecutor Deception

Prosecutors have different agendas, especially when the NSA information is classified. At this juncture, there's no way to know whether the information the grand jury was provided is not a ruse. They may be withholding some information from the Grand Jury because DoJ doesn't want the public to know about the NSA's continued monitoring of all domestic communications.

This may be an indirect way to focus on the NSA surveillance. It could be the government is using Risen's reporting on the CIA in Iran not to stop those leaks, but to use information generated from this investigation to find out more about how the media learned of the second, unrelated issue: The NSA surveillance, which appears to have hit a roadblock.

President's Actions Inconsistent With NSA Capabilities

With phone records in hand, the President should have been able to immediately shut down leaks from government officals. This did not happen. Indeed, the details of the NSA surveillance seem unusual. It seems unusual that the President would know about the Risen and NYT reporting, talk to them about holding the story, but not immediately then, in 2004 when the reporting started, conduct this investigation. It's unusual that the government would know the media knew about the government's illegal activity, but rather than shut down the communications between the NSA-DOJ and NYT, it simply asked the NYT to not report publicly the information. With the information at the hands of the President on the NSA surveillance, it's unclear why the government appears to be using the reporting on the CIA in Iran to find more about the reporting on the NSA.

If the government has had the phone communication records since Risen first started his reporting, why didn't the President immediately direct that these phone records be used to launch a leak investigation. The failure of the President in 2004 to direct an investigation then does not support the assertion that this was a correctly, lawfully classified program. Rather, it appears some knew there were illegal activities but did not internally investigate that illegal activity.

Dubious Uncertainty As A Ruse

Someone had access to government phone records showing government people were talking with Risen. The conversations were before it was known Risen would report, however the President was aware of this reporting and asked the NYT to hold the story. It's likely the effort to identify phone record information is a ruse to distract attention from the known email and non-phone conversations between government officials who have indirectly contacted Risen.