(2003-10-01) -- A group of professional journalists today called on President George Bush to squelch the revelation of names of White House staffers who leak information to reporters.

The President yesterday instructed his staff to come forward with information about anyone who leaks to the media. He urged full cooperation with a Justice Department investigation into who told columnist Robert Novak and other reporters that former Ambassador Joe Wilson's wife was a CIA analyst or operative.

But an unnamed spokesman for the Society of Editors Columnists and Reporters Eager for Truth said that the "outing" of leakers would have a chilling effect on free speech in America and could jeopardize covert sources within, and outside of, the administration.

"Journalists in Washington depend upon a web of anonymous sources," said the spokesman. "These public officials won't tell the truth on the record, so we put them into our witness protection program, and quote them without attribution. If one White House leaker is outed, it could have a domino effect that would shut down the whole cloak-and-dagger operation which we call political reporting. Revealing the names of secret agents within our government would jeopardize our most basic freedoms."