"Number 2" would probably do the trick all by itself, given the current mood of the nation.

It is inane that the media thinks they have a right to the details of this military operation. Even the editorial staff at "Aviation Week," which ought to know better, has complained in an uncharacteristic whiny tone (editorial from the October 15 issue):

Arrogance Spills Over In The White House



At the start of big conflicts, someone usually dusts off the platitude that the first casualty of war is truth.

Ritually intoned, this wisdom is promptly forgotten. The adversaries proceed to their fate, which was aptly limned by a Russian chessmaster who said, in an observation that befits war as well as the chessboard, "All the mistakes are there, just waiting to be made."

President George W. Bush and his Administration have brazenly, and mistakenly, decided that the American people will receive as little of the truth as possible about the war on terrorism. Distrusting the people's judgment, the commander-in-chief and the Pentagon want more or less the last word on what Americans should know about the assault on Osama bin Laden, and his counterparts.

The President pitched a fit over a newspaper's disclosure of a secret U.S. intelligence estimate, purportedly leaked by a member of Congress, that there was a "100% chance" American soil would be the target of more terrorist attacks if U.S. forces struck Afghanistan. (Always count on the spooks to classify the obvious.)

Bush is said to have tongue-lashed congressional leaders in a mostly one-way telephone "conversation." His first impulse was to strip almost all lawmakers of classified briefings. He also used a Rose Garden appearance to utter some condescending words about politicians taking their "responsibilities" seriously.

Top lawmakers nearly tripped over each other as they paraded pell-mell into the national television studios, trilling a chorus of mea culpas. Yes, they toadied, even if the President had overreacted a little, the dressing down had been good for them, and for the country--a wise if intemperate reminder of their duty. This craven display emanated from the likes of distinguished senatorial committee leaders, Messrs. Levin, Warner and Biden among them.

How soon they forget. Eons before the Garden of Eden, bureaucracies realized that cutting off information was the most effective way to prevent their mistakes and highhandedness--and sometimes their lawbreaking--from coming to light. The President has backed off a little on his original threat, and legislators are suavely dismissing the incident as a tempest in a teacup.

But guess what: The bureaucrats have not only gotten Bush's message, they are running with it, eagerly.

Ever the world's most dilatory executive agency, the Pentagon is solemnly (and you can bet gleefully) ordering contractors and weapons program managers to keep their mouths shut, lest they inadvertently furnish clues to foreign spies or intriguers. Maintaining cherished military traditions, the Defense secretary, Pentagon acquisition czar and Air Force procurement office do not deign to spell out how their blackout on cost overruns, schedule delays, goldplating and test failures will add to bin Laden's firepower. Aerospace goliaths that have troubled weapons programs--like Lockheed Martin and its F-22 combat aircraft--are clamping down hard, fervently evenhanded in their desire to keep foreign enemies and American taxpayers equally ignorant of contractor snafus.

At NASA headquarters, that steely sychophant, Administrator Daniel S. Goldin, ordered the (unprecedented) blanket closing of a NASA Advisory Council conclave. Subject: consolidating NASA field centers. That of course would trigger layoffs in the districts of powerful lawmakers. Any excuse for secrecy will do, but none is better than keeping the people's representatives in the dark--and out of the executive branch's bureaucratic hair.

The Transportation Dept.'s security office henceforth is treating credentialed reporters as "visitors," meaning they must be escorted by members of the department's public affairs office. Billed as a security precaution, this is a laughably transparent tactic to keep journalists from wandering the hallways and talking with insiders willing to spill the beans about federal bungling.

All in all, a disturbing pattern. This Administration has had an elitist air about it since Day 1, and the penchant for secrecy is a manifestation of that latent arrogance.

Every loyal citizen wants impending military deployments and operations kept secret. But Bush should heed the trenchant maxim of the American Revolutionary, Thomas Paine: The secrets of government, like the secrets of men, are always their defects.

Poorly informed Americans will not back a protracted war, as Vietnam disastrously demonstrated.



I have no idea exactly who wrote this--it wasn't bylined.

In a related note, a major reporter (Sam Donaldson, Dan Rather, one of those) in an interview was asked if he had been on the scene back during WWII, and knew two days ahead of time when D-Day was scheduled, would he report it? Sure, replied the reporter. It's news. I have not been able to locate this source for this quote exactly, and it may not be verbatim, but it's close enough.

The press and others moaning about being left out of the loop should shut up and sit down.