Overview
- Federal agents delivered subpoenas on Friday to four Times reporters — Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager and Eric Schmitt — requiring them to appear before a Manhattan grand jury next week to testify about an alleged criminal leak.
- The New York Times says it will challenge the orders and newsroom lawyers, press groups and some senators condemned the move as a threat to source protection and press freedom while the Justice Department says reporters are not the targets.
- The subpoenas follow the Times’ reporting that the Qatari‑donated, recently retrofitted Boeing 747‑8 lacked some advanced defensive systems, including antimissile capability, and that the Secret Service urged a plane swap during the president’s NATO trip; the White House denies security shortfalls.
- This action follows earlier 2026 leak probes in which the DOJ sought reporters’ testimony or records, and it comes after policy changes that restored prosecutors broader authority to pursue journalists in leak investigations, creating a pattern of escalated enforcement.
- The move could chill officials who speak to reporters and set up court fights over source protection and grand‑jury scope, and observers note the subpoenas were issued by SDNY U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, who has been nominated for a senior national‑security post.