Senate Republicans drew fire Thursday from an organization of national security whistleblowers who blasted new legislation aimed at stopping government officials from leaking information damaging to Bush administration national security programs.

Legislation introduced Aug. 2 by Christopher S. Bond of Missouri and 11 other Senate Republicans would criminalize leaks and lower the government’s burden of proving that actual damage had occurred as a result of an unauthorized disclosure.

It would not affect journalists or other private citizens who receive unauthorized information.

“Leaks expose our methods of apprehending the enemy and erode the confidence of our allies,” said Bond, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, in a prepared statement accompanying the bill (S 3744). “Over the past year there has arisen an apparent absence of fear of punishment in regards to the arbitrary divulging of classified information.”

Exposés of the NSA’s secret warrantless wiretapping programs, the CIA’s global network of secret jails, the Army’s torture of inmates at Abu Ghraib and massive contracting cost overruns in Iraq have plagued the Bush administration.

“We need to send a message,” Bond added, “that leaks will not be tolerated and give prosecutors a modern and appropriate tool to go after those who do leak.”

Under Bond’s bill, individuals are subject to prosecution if they “knowingly and willfully” disclose classified information to someone they know is not authorized to receive it.

Government employees convicted of improper disclosures would face a fine and up to three years in jail.

The National Security Whistleblowers Coalition, an Alexandria, Va.-based group of former intelligence and law enforcement employees, called the legislation hypocritical.

“Rather than a genuine effort to enhance national security, this legislation is designed to deter legitimate whistleblowing,” said a statement from Sibel Edmonds, a former FBI translator who was fired after she complained about problems in the Bureau’s counterespionage and counterterrorism operations.

“The result is that the statute would create an ‘Official Secrets Act’ similar to that found in Great Britain,” Edmonds said. “But, obviously, Great Britain does not have a First Amendment and we do.”

The Justice Department and National Directorate of Intelligence are working on their own joint policy on leaks, according to a progress report issued last week.

Meanwhile, last week former NSA employee Russ Tice was summoned to testify before a federal grand jury.

William Weaver, who spent eight years with Army eavesdropping and code-breaking units and now specializes in government secrecy at the University of Texas-El Paso, charged that Senate Republicans were applying a “double standard” to leaks, because Bush administration officials themselves — like their Republican and Democratic predecessors in the White House — commonly leak classified information if it benefits their policies.

In 2002, Vice President Dick Cheney prompted his aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby to disclose parts of a highly classified National Intelligence Estimate on Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction program, according to information gathered by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor in the CIA leak case.

The Bond legislation “is subject to a double standard in its application,” said Weaver, senior adviser to the whistleblower group, as part of its statement on the Bond bill.

“For example, much information is leaked to the press with the approval of administrators. These sorts of leaks are an unofficial channel for shoring up administration positions and to influence public opinion.”

“On the other hand,” Weaver continued, “unauthorized leaks would be prosecuted when they undermine administration positions or embarrass the executive branch or reveal illegal agency activity.

“So whether or not a person is prosecuted depends on whether or not the leak is popular or unpopular with the administration in power at the time of the leak. If the statute were to be applied evenhandedly, the jails would be full of administrators and presidential advisers.”

Bond’s bill affects only government employees and contractors or anyone who has signed a non-disclosure agreement with the federal government, his office said.

“It does not affect the media, businesses or private citizens and only pertains to information that has been properly and appropriately classified.”

But the legislation “does not preclude the use of other statutes” that penalize spying on the behalf of a foreign power, the statement noted.

The bill contains “the exact language included previously in the FY 2001 intelligence authorization bill,” the four-term Republican’s statement said.

That bill was passed by Congress but vetoed by President Clinton.

The legislation has no Democratic support “as of now,” his spokesman said, nor are any hearings yet scheduled.

Jeff Stein can be reached at jstein@cq.com.