John Macartney wrote:
>I haven't seen any response from Bill Gertz (the
> > > target of the Ignatius barbs)

Ignatius carefully gave Gertz the chance to reply in the original piece itself:

"When I asked Gertz Friday why he makes so many references to sensitive NSA
material, he gave the standard reportorial answer: 'When I get information,
I don't care where it comes from or why it came to me, but [whether] it's
news and important'."

But other evidence suggests that Gertz cares a good deal where the
information comes from.  Thus, in his book "Betrayal", Gertz describes his
sources as "unsung heroes [who] have jeopardized their career ... by
disclosing to the press some of the nation's most secret intelligence."  "I
regard them as both dissidents and patriots."  (pp. 5-6)

The notion of the "patriotic leak" and the obvious political bent of
Gertz's reporting of classified information were completely missed by Ignatius.


___________________
Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
http://www.fas.org/sgp/index.html