Drip, drip... Administration investigates leaks

Posted By Josh Rogin Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - 1:48 AM Share

The Obama administration has authorized a leak investigation following a string of stories mostly in the Washington Post, according to two administration sources.

On the campaign trail, President Obama promised to run the most transparent U.S. administration in history, and his White House has been a leaky one so far compared with the more close-mouthed Bush administration. But a recent string of unauthorized disclosures, most recently in a report previewing the administration's new Sudan policy ahead of today's announcement, has angered top officials and led to a bolstered effort to find the leakers.

Not all leaks seem to have drawn fire. Recent disclosures on the administration's missile-defense plans and the early release of a highly classified assessment by the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan are not part of the leak probe, the sources said.

But the preemptive leak late Friday of the Sudan policy review to the Washington Post particularly angered White House officials, said the two sources. The administration appeared to quickly retaliate for that story, by confirming on the record to the New York Times, which had an interview with the official in charge of the policy review, retired Maj. Gen. Scott Gration, which the Post did not.

It may be tough to pursue the alleged leaker, given that the story did not appear to involve release of any classified information, as the sources conceded. However, they argue there's a pattern of such incidents and claimed government lawyers are currently poring through e-mails and other communications with the intention of outing the leaker.