The New York Times reports:
Prompted in part by recent articles in The New York Times on the use of drones to carry out targeted killings and the deployment of the Stuxnet computer worm against the Iranian nuclear program, the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees issued a joint statement on Wednesday urging the administration “to fully, fairly and impartially investigate” the recent disclosures and vowing new legislation to crack down on leaks.
“Each disclosure puts American lives at risk, makes it more difficult to recruit assets, strains the trust of our partners and threatens imminent and irreparable damage to our national security,” said the statement, a rare show of unity.
So U.S. drone attacks that kill civilians and dangerous and unprecedented use of cyberwarfare is not a problem. No, the only problem is that these truths about U.S. foreign policy are known to the public.
It is not U.S. actions overseas, including the killing of civilians, but the public knowledge of them that puts Americans at risk.
It is not U.S. actions, including the murdering of foreign nationals, but the knowledge of them that strain relations with other countries.
It is not U.S. actions, including fueling anti-American sentiment and increasing the threat of terrorism by bombing innocents, but the knowledge of them that damages U.S. national security.
The Times is wrong. That Republicans and Democrats show unity, operating within this framework, is not “rare” at all. What would be rare would be for there to be a lack of continuity between Republican and Democratic administrations, as opposed to the consistency of U.S. foreign policy we witness.
