More Scandal From Ms. Judy

Damn! I decide to take a few days off, and wouldn't you just know it yet another scandal leaps out of the current soap opera known as "As The Judy Turns". E&P breaks down the latest scandal, which came to light in the NYT article about the Miller-Plame leak story. Since the posting of The New York Times lengthy article on Judith Miller's involvement in the Plame scandal Saturday, much of the Web has been abuzz with the revelation that she had some sort of special classified status while embedded with troops in Iraq at one point. The issue came to the fore after Miller, in recounting her grand jury testimony, wrote about how her former classified status figured in her discussions with I. Lewis Libby. She was even pressed by the prosecutor on this matter. Excuse me? This poor excuse for a so-called journalist had clearance to receive "classified" information? What the hell for!!! If this doesn't amount to Judy Miller being no more than a paid schill for the Administration then I don't know what the hell does. And it seems that Bill Lynch the former CBS News national security correspondent, feels the same: There is one enormous journalism scandal hidden in Judith Miller's Oct. 16th first person article about the (perhaps lesser) CIA leak scandal. And that is Ms. Miller's revelation that she was granted a DoD security clearance while embedded with the WMD search team in Iraq in 2003. This is as close as one can get to government licensing of journalists and the New York Times (if it knew) should never have allowed her to become so compromised. It is all the more puzzling that a reporter who as a matter of principle would sacrifice 85 days of her freedom to protect a source would so willingly agree to be officially muzzled and thereby deny potentially valuable information to the readers whose right to be informed she claims to value so highly. One must assume that Ms. Miller was required to sign a standard and legally binding agreement that she would never divulge classified information to which she became privy, without risk of criminal prosecution. And she apparently plans to adhere to the letter of that self-censorship deal; witness her dilemma at being unable to share classified information with her editors. [snip] If Ms. Miller agreed to operate under a security clearance without the knowledge or approval of Times managers, she should be disciplined or even dismissed. If she had their approval, all involved should be ashamed. I would go a step further. If Miller had the Times managers' approval, then they should not only appologize, but they should step down and vacate their positions immediately and the legitimate reporters of the NYT should not only demand it, but refuse to submit any further stories until they do so.