The BBC reports that British intelligence agencies have stopped sharing information with the United States because of U. S. intelligence leaks:
Police investigating the Manchester Arena bomb attack have stopped sharing information with the US after leaks to the media.
UK officials were outraged when photos appearing to show debris from the attack appeared in the New York Times.
It came after the name of bomber Salman Abedi was leaked to US media just hours after the attack, which left 22 dead.
Theresa May said she would tell Donald Trump at a Nato meeting that shared intelligence “must remain secure”.
The US’s acting ambassador to the UK “unequivocally condemned” the leaks in a BBC radio interview.
“These leaks were reprehensible, deeply distressing,” Lewis Lukens said.
“We have had communications at the highest level of our government … we are determined to identify these leaks and to stop them.”
Who’s responsible?
- Trump
- Obama
- Hillary Clinton
- NeverTrumpers in the U. S. intelligence services
- The U. S. news media
- There are so many to choose from
I don’t know if they’re NeverTrumpers, but whoever they are should get their butts kicked.
And the media doesn’t get a pass. They’re printing too much classified info. If you want to go after the Pres for playing fast and loose with classified info, fine, but don’t disseminate it yourself, for Pete’s sake. Reprehensible.
Absolutely no point in naming the source in the Israel affair, and even less about pointing out the subs around N Korea.
Best say “metaphorically get their butts kicked” in this climate.
On the UK bombing — what are they thinking?
I like a free press, and leaking like no tomorrow to humiliate Trump could be taken as part of free society, but to leak intimate and grisly details of a terrorist attack when they have not caught all the perpetrators is another – how does this further the purpose of open society or a free press?
Look, it isn’t hard to figure out those particular details published in the NYT come from either homeland security / FBI / CIA. Trump has been wanting to clean house at all three agencies. Here is a perfect reason to do so – hope they get caught and publicly fired on TV.
And is the NYT drinking cyanide? What they did seems at best a gross breach of journalistic ethics. If the NYT ends up with a reporter and editor subpoenaed and jailed for refusing to divulge their sources – I certainly will not defend their first amendment rights.
I hope whoever is responsible for this remembers what goes around comes around — and someday the US will need the discretion of foreign governments and media.
Agreed.
I would change the categories a bit, but it’s almost certainly A or D. However, I doubt it was done for domestic political motives, unlike the two other recent leaks. I’m sure it stems from the same cohort of self-importance court players though.
And really, this is all kind of sad. When I first started in intelligence in the early 1990’s there was a much bigger appreciation for the importance of not sharing information like this. Today, our government is essentially unable to protect much of anything and people now will readily leak in order to further domestic political goals. IMO that is the camel’s nose under the tent when it comes to protecting American citizens from the intelligence services of our government.
This Manchester investigation, though, plays into Trump’s themes and I wouldn’t put it past one of his to have publicized that name.
And I don’t trust Trump’s definition of “house cleaning.”
I don’t think its appropriate to house clean the FBI now, especially after Comey got fired. That’s what makes this leak so distressing – its a pretty good reason to investigate the FBI / CIA etc.
I doubt that Trump or someone close to him leaked it – given the adversarial relations between the administration and the NYT, I think the NYT would be perfectly happy to blame the administration for leaking if the leak came from them.
BTW, here’s our chance to let the President know what we think about reforming the executive branch:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/reorganizing-the-executive-branch
If Trump is president, then this is his problem.
Steve
I would say the leaks are generated from eirher disgruntled NeverTrump “establishment elites,” or from holdover Obama people still actively working in the WH or in national security positions.
As for Steve’s remark, re “Trump is president so it’s his problem.” Literally, it is Trump’s problem to solve. However, what about Obama’s stance of referring to most ofl his problems as “inherited” ones – something he continuously said throughout his first term in office?
Erick Erickson wrote that he knew one of the sources for the Iraeli intel story — a Trump supporter:
http://theresurgent.com/i-know-one-of-the-sources/