When I read the NYT story about how the info was discovered, I wondered who in the hell authorized the release of that info. That will almost certainly dry up an intel source, a major loss, IMO. On the other hand, there was no way they could've briefed thousands of police and security personnel without the story leaking.

Consider what would've happened had a major attack on any of those targets taken place and it came out that this source existed - the screams from the conspiracy freaks would've been deafening.

In the end, word about the capture has probably already filtered through Al Queda, so blowing the source may not do much harm. That source was already burned. Intel officials may be able to learn quite a bit from that laptop in addition to the info inside, such as means of communications and chain of command. News of his capture may even force some people out into the daylight where they'd be easier to take out.