Columnist Ralph Peters, who worked in the intelligence field for more than two decades, sums up the meaning of this year’s Pulitzer Prizes:
That Pulitzer Prize wasn’t really for journalism. It was a political statement. No one’s going to get a journalism award for reporting on the War on Terror’s successes or progress in Iraq. Only left-wing children get a prize.
I can assure you of a third thing, too: If an intelligence professional saw a genuine threat to the Constitution or to the rights of his or her fellow citizens, he or she would step forward – and be justified in doing so.
But pique over your presidential candidate’s defeat or mere disagreement with a policy does not justify anyone – intelligence professional or political appointee – in passing classified information to a party not authorized to receive it.