GWOT: Keystone Cops Edition

As Jeff pointed out yesterday, somebody in this government leaked the recent Osama tape, even after explicit requests from the supplier (SITE) not to do so until the green light was given. Armed with access logs that prove the tape was prematurely leaked, SITE stated in no uncertain terms that this leak has compromised their ability to further track communications within Al-Qaeda by making the group aware of the security breach.

So, now that the administration who is gung-ho about teh terrorists massively fucked up our ability to track these guys (read: compromised our national security), we can be lulled back to sleep with that soothing phrase that helps us forget everything: "We will be investigating."

U.S. intelligence officials will investigate allegations that the government improperly leaked a secretly obtained Osama bin Laden video, alerting al-Qaeda to a security gap in the terrorist group's internal communications network that it was able to shut, an intelligence spokesman said yesterday.

Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for the director of national intelligence, said officials are looking into the leak allegation by the SITE Intelligence Group, which passed the video on to the White House and the director of national intelligence's office before its leak.

See? Everyone can go back to what they were doing and even take a nap. I have full no confidence that this investigation will stay on the radar until its completion. Heck, with an embarrassing situation like this happening in the government itself, you can damn well believe they are going to get to the bottom of it in short order stall this thing until the new President is sworn in. The White House is clearly showing feigning concern:

[Dana Perino] told reporters that "this was a cause of concern that the information was leaked. And I would have to refer to the DNI's office in regards to any possible investigation into that leak."

Frances Fragos Townsend, the White House homeland security adviser, expressed concern about the leak in a news conference, saying the government needs the cooperation of private individuals and companies in stopping terrorist groups.

In other words, the White House had nothing to do with this, ask someone else, and please feel free to keep helping us do our job. Sorry to say this, Frances, but you already had the cooperation and you fucked it up. How, exactly, do you plan to gain the trust from others to cooperate? I know, don't ask.