Posted by D. Cupples | I enjoy giving credit where it's due. While it took prolonged thought, eventually I realized that even the Bush Administration is reasonably competent at one thing: keeping secrets. Evidence to the contrary just surfaced. Last month -- when secrecy might have actually benefited our nation -- Administration members dropped the ball. Today's Washington Post reported:
"A small private intelligence company [SITE] that monitors Islamic terrorist groups obtained a new Osama bin Laden video ahead of its official release last month, and around 10 a.m. on Sept. 7, it notified the Bush administration of its secret acquisition. It gave two senior officials access on the condition that the officials not reveal they had it until the al-Qaeda release.
"Within 20 minutes, a range of intelligence agencies had begun downloading it from the company's Web site....
"By midafternoon that day, the video and a transcript of its audio track had been leaked from within the Bush administration to cable television news and broadcast worldwide....
"Al-Qaeda supporters, now alerted to the intrusion into their secret network, put up new obstacles that prevented SITE from gaining the kind of access it had obtained in the past, according to Katz.
Fox Not-news was among the media outlets that enjoyed the intelligence leak and quickly posted a transcript of the video on its website.
After thinking about the leak, I began to wonder: are Administration officials incompetent, or did they have some reason for destroying SITE's ability to gather intel? Common logic is of little use when trying to assess Administration officials' motives, so I won't even try.
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