Another Leak of Classified Information

I just got done writing about our seeming inability to keep secrets secret, and today comes another leak of classified information.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has warned in a secret three-page memorandum to top White House officials that the United States does not have an effective long-range policy for dealing with Iran’s steady progress toward nuclear capability,

The Times describes the document, written by Gates to National Security Advisor General James Jones, as a "highly classified analysis." It's so highly classified that it's in the New York Times where it can be read all over the world.

Yes it's an open secret that the Obama administration doesn't have the slightest clue about how to counter Iran's nuclear program. No doubt Obama is baffled as to why his empty talk and wishful thinking haven't brought positive results. But just because a leak embarrasses the Obama administration doesn't make it a good thing. The leaks have gotten so bad that two senior officials can't correspond with each other at any level of classification, on a sensitive foreign policy issue, without the document appearing in the national press. It's not a good thing if the president's advisors need to watch every word they say when giving supposedly confidential advice, for fear that their words will be exposed in the press. When it comes to national security, intelligence matters, and secret foreign policy deliberations, we don't need more transparency, as some have argued. We need greater secrecy, and more assurance that confidential matters will remain under wraps.