"As readers of this newsletter know, I think people are mature enough to handle difficult truths. That’s why I’ve published documents other outlets refused to, from the JD Vance Dossier to the Luigi Mangione manifesto. I was vilified for facilitating copycat murders that never materialized, foreign influence operations that didn’t work (Vance is now Vice President), and for being generally “irresponsible.”

To me, what’s irresponsible is the national security state’s gradual creep into civic life — including, apparently, journalism. Obvious as that seems, I’ve paid a personal price for acting on my belief that my primary duty as a journalist is to inform the public. I’m never going to appear in a top White House official’s contacts list like Goldberg did, or score an exclusive interview with one of them or an invite to a black tie event. So I get why people like Goldberg do what they do. But we shouldn’t pretend it’s about protecting our national security.

Here’s what happens whenever a leak not authorized by the government hits the desk of some national security auxiliary. The normal standard for publication — is it newsworthy? — goes out the window as the reporter or their outlet scrambles to find out how the story might affect their own interests. Would publication piss off someone in power or otherwise jeopardize access to officialdom? Could it aid some nefarious actor somewhere? Could it contradict our previous reporting?"

https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/trump-admin-caught-making-war-by

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