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The Columnist and the Disclosure
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By Mike Cuenca | October 1, 2003
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Re ''President Orders Full Cooperation in Leaking of Name'' (front page, Oct. 1):
At the moment when someone disclosed to the columnist Robert D. Novak
the name of an undercover C.I.A. officer, whose husband, a former
diplomat, had been critical of the administration's use of intelligence
to justify the Iraq war, Mr. Novak's responsibility as a citizen was to
contact the proper authorities and report the leak.
At the very least, he should have refused to repeat the information.
The same holds true for the other journalists involved.
If Mr. Novak had been called by a serial killer who gave his name and
the location of his latest victim's body, would it have been acceptable
to publish the story and protect that killer's identity, saying the
killer was an anonymous source?
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Originally published by the New York Times.
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