New York Times editor Jill Abramson says the Obama administration is "the most secretive" she has ever had to contend with.
Speaking to Al Jazeera's John Seigenthaler, Abramson pointed to the administration's unprecedented number of leak investigations:
"It is the most secretive White House that I have ever been involved in covering...I dealt directly with the Bush White House when they had concerns that stories we were about to run put the national security under threat. But, you know, they were not pursuing criminal leak investigations. The Obama administration has had seven criminal leak investigations. That is more than twice the number of any previous administration in our history. It's on a scale never seen before. This is the most secretive White House that, at least as a journalist, I have ever dealt with.
She added that the decision to be so aggressive towards the press "would have to" come directly from President Obama himself. [More] BJS