The Columbia Journalism Review blog reports:

Since 2008, one particular federal government agency has aggressively investigated leaks to the media, examining some one million emails sent by nearly 300 members of its staff, interviewing some 100 of its own employees and trolling the phone records of scores more.  It’s not the CIA, the Department of Justice or the National Security Agency.

It’s the Securities and Exchange Commission. …

All that effort was for naught. Despite the time and resources that have been poured into them, none of the SEC’s eight investigations in the past six years have uncovered the leakers.…

The article further points out that the SEC’s pursuit of leakers has ramped up in the wake of the financial crisis, and it has no problem with leaks (if you call them “leaks”) when the leaks make the agency look good.

The SEC’s argument is that it needs to protect against the release of market moving information, and I'm quite sympathetic to that point, but the leaks involved here seem to be at least in part about concealing internal problems or dissension within the agency.  

Considering how at least two Commissioners have recently spoken out about their dissatisfaction with the SEC’s enforcement efforts (not to mention the best SEC speech ever), I tend to be sympathetic to the argument that sunlight – or at least less intimidation – is in order.

(Also, if they can't catch their own leakers…. )