Do Security Risks Ever Come Into Publishing Calculus?

As if publishing stories about the NSA surveillance program or the CIA secret prisons weren't enough, the New York Times is leaking word that Gen. Clark is preparing a draft of how troops could be drawn down from Iraq by the end of 2007. Do the media elites at the major newspapers and networks ever think for a moment that their stories might cause irreperable harm to national security?

Do they ever consider that these scoops based on leaks of classified information could put their own security at risk should a terrorist exploit the knowledge leaked on the pages of the Washington Post or the New York Times.

The short answer is no.

What better way to give our enemies a quick and painless victory than by setting out a date by which they only have to survive in order to win? By letting the world know that the US even has the contingency plan for the drawdown, the media emboldens and provides comfort to the terrorists and insurgents in Iraq (and elsewhere around the world for that matter) who know that in any conflict with the US that it is only a matter of time before the US leaves and if they can last long enough, they'll win by the US quitting the battlefield.

Ed Morrissey notes that the nature of this particular leak provides a relatively small group of potential leakers, which should make for an interesting encounter once the leaker is discovered. At the same time, he notes that this particular story lacks some specificity on the timing of various aspects of the withdrawal. Also, another possibility is that the Pentagon itself provided the information to shape the debate about pulling troops out in response to the corrosive debate on troop reductions, withdrawal, or the cut-n-run strategies.

Patterico provides the legal basis for prosecuting reports who publish leaked classified information. Scott Johnson has yet more details and legal considerations that can and should be used against the leakers and the reporters who leak the classified information - regardless of the rationale behind the leaks.

Michelle Malkin provides a series of reminders from another era, another war along with some modern takes.

Others noting the Times complete and utter disdain for US national security, and those of our neighbors and allies: Blue Crab Boulevard, Texas Rainmaker, Strategy Page, Hugh Hewitt, Wizbang, Blue Star Chronicles, LGF, Baldilocks, and Kesher Talk.