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Leakers Who Revealed Israel as Intelligence Source Did Far More Damage than Trump

(Washington Post) Marc A. Thiessen - Trump did not reveal to anyone that Israel was the source of intelligence he shared with the Russians. So how did the New York Times, which broke the news of Israel's role, find out? According to the Times, its sources were "a current and a former American official." NBC News, meanwhile, reported that it had confirmed the Israeli role "with three government officials." Ponder the irony: These geniuses were so appalled by Trump sharing sensitive intelligence with the Russians that they shared even more sensitive intelligence with the media. In so doing, these leakers possibly did far more damage to U.S. national security - and intelligence-sharing between the U.S. and Israel - than anything Trump may have revealed to the Russians. That is the assessment of John Brennan, Barack Obama's CIA director, who said last week that "the real damage to national security is...what was leaked in the aftermath," adding that "these individuals who still stay within the government and are leaking this stuff to the press need to be brought to task." When the Obama administration exposed Israel's role in the "Stuxnet" cyberattack on Iran's nuclear program, a member of Obama's national security team intentionally exposed intelligence sources and methods to the New York Times. The damage this leak did - both to the operation and the trust between our two countries - was incalculable. Where was the deep concern for the exposure of this intelligence? These leakers are the ones who cannot be trusted with sensitive intelligence. The writer is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
2017-05-24 00:00:00
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