Rumsfeld Questions Release of Bin Laden Intelligence

BY JENNIFER MECKLES

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Following the take-down of Osama bin Laden, the media- and their audiences- are scrambling for every little detail. But at what point does the sharing of information put national security at risk?

Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld posed that question on CBS’s Face the Nation:

“Intelligence has come out of the White House by people who later had to change their mind because of the fog of war, and not out of the Pentagon... And the more information that goes out about intelligence, the greater the risks to our people... and the less likely we are going to be to capture and kill some of the people that would result from the intelligence case. So I would have preferred a lot less discussion out of the White House about intelligence.”

A reporter for WTXF in Philadelphia had similar concerns. She discusses the White House’s handing of information following Bin Laden’s death with a political analyst.

REPORTER: “Do you get the feeling that maybe... almost... the administration released too much information too quickly and then they had to kind of rethink their strategy for putting that out there?”
JEFF JUBELIRER: “That's a really fair question -- they don’t want to look like they’re wobbling.”

But not all government officials are secret-sharers. During an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, White House Security Advisor Tom Donilon was tight-lipped on matters of security and intelligence. Here are a few excerpts:

DAVID GREGORY: “Where is that actually happening and when? Do you have any idea?”
TOM DONILON: “I don’t have an idea, with respect to the timing, that I can share with you at this point.”
GREGORY: “There were references to specific plots?"
DONILON: “I don’t want to get into the details.”
DONILON: “You know me well enough to know, David, that I don’t want to say anything I haven’t fully had the chance to study at this point.”

According to Fox News, the rest of the administration realized --- it might be a good idea to make mum the word.

“... The administration officials have held a series of briefings to go over the details of the raid, review the decade-long investigation that led to it and disclose some information about the evidence seized from the compound. The White House last week indicated it would stop providing details about the raid itself -- officials have since kept their comments mostly to the subject of the evidence being analyzed by the CIA.”

Following years of publicized intelligence failures, Al Jazeera suggests sharing parts of the U.S.’s latest success could be beneficial for a few members of the administration.

“The CIA can finally not be the subject of Congressional ‘What Went Wrong’ hearings over this intelligence success... All the positive press for the CIA will be good for Director Leon Panetta, who has been nominated by President Barack Obama to a new role as Secretary of Defence, pending Congressional approval... Now he might just get unanimously confirmed.”

So what do you think? Should the public be privy to intelligence details following the raid? Or is there a limit to what can safely be released?


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1. By: newsydotcom
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4. Added :09-May-11
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