The Justice Department 's sweeping collection of Associated Press phone records as part of a national security leak investigation has had a chilling effect on sources , the news agency 's top executive said on Wednesday . `` Some of our long-trusted sources have become nervous and anxious about talking to us -- even on stories that are n't about national security , '' AP Chief Executive and President Gary Pruitt said at the National Press Club . `` In some cases , government employees that we once checked in with regularly will no longer speak to us by phone and some are reluctant to meet in person , '' he said . The Justice Department subpoenaed and subsequently obtained two months of AP phone records as part of an investigation of its May 2012 coverage of a foiled airline bomb plot in Yemen . Toll records would show what numbers were dialed from the AP lines and what numbers dialed in , but would not provide any information on the content of conversations . No reporters were singled out as potential criminals , but the scope of the subpoena surrounding leak of classified information provoked outrage among media and concern from civil libertarians , privacy advocates and some members of Congress . A second , similar case involving a Fox News reporter 's e-mails regarding a separate leak of classified information on an unrelated national security story added fuel to the media controversy . President Barack Obama has said he was `` troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable . '' Pruitt said the AP could have helped the Justice Department narrow the scope of the subpoena had it `` come to us in advance . '' He added that a court could have decided the matter if the DOJ and the AP did n't agree . `` There was never that opportunity . Instead , the DOJ acted as judge , jury and executioner in private -- in secret , '' he said . The Justice Department defended its scrutiny , saying previously that it followed its own regulations in acquiring subpoenas and exhausted other methods to find out who might have leaked the information before seeking phone records . It said investigators conducted more than 550 interviews and examined tens of thousands of pages of documents before issuing subpoenas involving phone lines . Justice Department rules call for negotiations with news organizations on such issues unless there is a `` substantial threat to the integrity of the investigation . '' Attorney General Eric Holder has subsequently said he will never prosecute reporters for doing their job . Pruitt , who is also a First Amendment lawyer , worries about precedent . `` If reporters ' phone records are now open territory for the government to secretly monitor , then news sources will be intimidated from talking to reporters . The AP is not going to be intimidated , but our sources will be , '' Pruitt said . Pruitt says other news organizations also have experienced sources worried about speaking to them . `` This chilling effect is not just at AP . ... Journalists from other news organizations have personally told me ( the DOJ 's seizing of AP 's phone records ) has intimidated sources from speaking to them , '' he said . Holder has launched a review of Justice Department guidelines on investigations involving the press , and has met with media executives about it . Obama has given Holder a July 12 deadline to come up with some suggestions for possibly changing the approach .
Justice Department subpoenaed Associated Press phone records as part of leak probe . AP CEO says sweeping seizure done in secret has sources nervous about talking to AP . The subpoena was issued after the news organization published a story on Friday that revealed details from an internal investigation into whether reporters leaked classified information to reporters. Investigation centered on leak of classified information about terror plot .