KHAN OUTED BY PAKISTAN?….Laura Rozen links to a piece in Salon that says the disclosure of Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan’s name was first done by Pakistani officials, not Americans. It’s awfully hard to know how much credence to put in this, since it’s pretty obvious that there’s an awful lot of inter-agency game playing going on, but it’s a worthwhile data point.
Of course, Douglas Jehl or David Rohde of the New York Times, who were the first to report this, could just tell us and then we’d know. It’s not clear to me how a simple acknowledgment of the nationality of their source would compromise the person who leaked this.
UPDATE: The Times fesses up today:
The release of Mr. Khan’s name ? it was made public in The New York Times on Aug. 2, citing Pakistani intelligence sources….
Actually, the August 2 story was ambiguous, but it sounds like they’re now confirming that their initial source was a Pakistani official. I’m still not sure why American officials would confirm this, but at least they weren’t the prime leakers.
