|
Good Leak, Bad Leak
There's something troubling about the recent leaks to the New York Times about President Barack Obama's involvement in authorizing the targeted killings of suspected terrorists and launching cyberattacks against an Iranian nuclear enrichment facility: they're coming from the same administration that has prosecuted more government officials under the Espionage Act of 1917 for sharing classified information with the media than all previous administrations combined. (As Director of National Intelligence James Clapper wrote in a 2010 memo, "People in the intelligence business should be like my grandchildren -- seen but not heard.") Just this week, an American general who suggested that U.S. and South Korean Special Forces were parachuting into North Korea to conduct espionage was replaced in what the military insisted, amid murmurs of disbelief, was a routine personnel change. Sure, happens all the time... This contradictory posture toward national security leaks has exposed the White House to accusations this week that it clamps down on whistleblowing when the disclosures undermine its agenda but eagerly volunteers anonymous "senior administration officials" for interviews when politically expedient. Salon's Glenn Greenwald condemned the "administration's manipulative game-playing with its secrecy powers," Both his readers applauded... the Washington Post's Charles Krauthammer called the report on Obama's targeted killings a "White House press release" (the report's authors dispute that claim), and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle decried the "accelerating pace of such disclosures," calling for an investigation and new legislation to address the problem. "They're intentionally leaking information to enhance President Obama's image as a tough guy for the elections," Senator John McCain (R-AZ) charged on Tuesday. Worst part about it is that despite the leaks, no one in the world intelligence, military and political community thinks that Champ has any toughness whatsoever... The White House, for its part, has dismissed this allegation as "grossly irresponsible" and argued that, in fact, it seeks to plug leaks that could jeopardize counterterrorism or intelligence operations. But as the examples below suggest, the Obama administration hardly has dealt consistently with counterterrorism and intelligence leaks over the past three-and-a-half years. The author continues to list 8 "leaks' with facts in each -- which were prosecued and which aren't. KILL LIST Prosecution? No. WIKILEAKS Prosecution? Yes STUXNET Prosecution? No. TRAILBLAZER PROJECT Prosecution? Yes BIN LADEN RAID Prosecution? No. OPERATION MERLIN Prosecution? Yes. AWLAKI MEMO Prosecution? No. TERRORIST INTERROGATION Prosecution? Yes. He ends with: "Administration officials, of course, have at times brought highly sensitive, classified stories to the American people -- when they had good stories to tell, that is." Posted by: Sherry 2012-06-09 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=346279 |