PAKISTAN’S NUKES….The New York Times has a front page story running today about a “highly classified” U.S. program to help Pakistan secure its nuclear arsenal. My first thought when I read the headline was, “You know, this is one classified program that maybe the Times should have considered not reporting on.” Reading further, it turns out they did consider it:
The New York Times has known details of the secret program for more than three years….The newspaper agreed to delay publication of the article after considering a request from the Bush administration, which argued that premature disclosure could hurt the effort to secure the weapons.
Since then, some elements of the program have been discussed in the Pakistani news media….The Times told the administration last week that it was reopening its examination of the program in light of those disclosures and the current instability in Pakistan. Early this week, the White House withdrew its request that publication be withheld, though it was unwilling to discuss details of the program.
How about that? Turns out the Times isn’t staffed by traitors after all.
