Mind you, you wouldn’t know that from the Washington Post’s article on the arrest of John Kiriakou. While the Washington Post – from appearances, somewhat reluctantly – reported that Kiriakou (a former CIA officer and Senate Foreign Affairs staffer) had been arrested for revealing names, operations and investigations to the media back in 2008-2009, the paper completely neglected to mention who Kiriakou ended up working for – which is to say, Senator John Kerry (D, MA). Oddly enough, the Washington Post managed to simultaneous note that “[t]he committee had not been aware of the criminal probe of Kiriakou, according to a former U.S. official familiar with the matter” in its article, while unaccountably mentioning that Kiriakou has been leaking classified information publicly for years – including to the, well, Washington Post. One can only guess why a premiere Left-Establishment paper would be so eager to whitewash the record when it comes to protecting prominent Left-Establishment politicians… like, say, John Kerry, who is the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee (at least until next January)…

One last note: I don’t say this often, but I have to admit that the Obama administration has been a lot better on hammering down violators of the Espionage Act than I expected them to be. Politico reports that the current number of investigations “exceeds the number of such cases in all previous administrations combined;” and while I may have a low opinion of the White House’s motivations (essentially, I think that the Obama administration hates it when people talk out of turn on anything) I’m not going to overly quibble about results. I recognize the need for whistle-blowing and oversight, but the rules are there for a reason. Some things out there really should be only available on a need-to-know basis, and I don’t need to know them. And neither do you.

So. A chill wind a-blowing, and that suits me just fine. And John Kerry needs to do better vetting of his staff. Particularly when it comes to this guy: I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t it seem to be a little odd that Kerry would pick as a senior adviser somebody who would think that it’s a good idea to release classified photos and names of CIA operatives to the media? Particularly since both the photos and names ended up on the wrong side of the bars in Gitmo?

Moe Lane (crosspost)