Following our reporting of the connection between the White House and Stuxnet, and the implied declaration of war that the US military accidentally linked to the Stuxnet 'event', US lawmakers have made two unfortunate blunders.
Firstly, by setting loose the dogs of war (sorry, the FBI) onto the inner sanctum to determine the source of the leak, these lawmakers very clearly confirmed the truth of the story. If there was no leak (and thus the story was false), why would there be an investigation?
Of course there are the cynics who suggest the leak was deliberate and that it was merely an electioneering stunt by some mid-level minion to add gravitas to President Obama's image of being "strong on terrorism, or some such thing.
Either way, those just outside the White House aren't impressed and are looking for more people to blame.
The Christian Science Monitor is reporting that the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee heard from Army Col. Ken Allard who described the recent spate of national security leaks as "unprecedented" in American history, pointing to the leaks of the President's "kill list" and the Stuxnet cyberattack on Iran.
With that in mind, Congressman Trey Gowdy went even further, urging criminal prosecutions of reporters.
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Other members of the committee were forced to remind Gowdy that the 1st Amendment hadn't been revoked just because he wanted it to be.
Chairman of the committee, James Sensenbrenner countered, "We've got the constitutional issue about the First Amendment protecting the freedom of the press, but there has to be a balance," he said. "I feel that there has to be some self-restraint on the part of the press, saying we have this information but it would be tremendously damaging to our nation if it was published."
