A D.C. whodunit: Who leaked and why? | Reuters
POLITICO (Washington) - Bob Woodward's Monday-morning exclusive on a 66-
page report from Gen. Stanley McChrystal to President Barack Obama about
Afghanistan policy was a rite of passage for the new administration: the first
major national security leak and a sure sign that the celebrated Washington
Post reporter has penetrated yet another administration.
So who did it?
The simplest theory — and one most administration officials Monday were
endorsing — is that a military or civilian Pentagon official who supports
McChrystal's policy put it out in an attempt to pressure Obama to follow
McChrystal's suggestion and increase troop levels in Afghanistan.
But not everyone in Washington is a believer in Occam's razor, so all manner
of other theories flourished.
There are believers in the reverse leak, in which the leak itself is meant to
damage McChrystal's position by inducing White House anger at the general.
There's the fake leak, in which the White House may have been trying to
back itself into a corner.
In the larger sense, the document's contents are completely unsurprising —
McChrystal's views were widely known, and the assessment just spells them
out. But giving the document to a brand name like Bob Woodward, who has a
flair for the dramatic, ensures big play in The Washington Post and broad
pickup by other media.
"This leak would, by all appearances, be the act of someone who supports an
increase in troop strength and resources," said Kevin Kellems, a
communications director for former Vice President Dick Cheney, who noted
that "the power of Woodward going on page A1 is exceptional" in its ability to
dictate to wire services and cable outlets, a vanishing power of the
newspapers. "This is the act most likely of a civilian who is an advocate of
this position and believes they were right to do this because lives were at stake."