Someone get Nick Fury on the phone! The Enemy Within has struck again!
Marine Scott Allen has just provided the enemy with valuable information!
New scopes allow Marines to kill enemies from further away and in less light than before, says Scott Allen, a Marine Corps acquistion official in Quantico. "Insurgents think we've got a whole lot of snipers out there," Allen said. "Marines can see much better, hit them from a great distance.
-- "Pentagon seeks $100M to speed equipment and arms to troops," Tom Vanden Brook, USA Today, February 16, 2007, 10A
What!
Scott Allen has just told the 'terrorists' that marines that there aren't "a whole lot of snipers out there," just better armed ones! He's tipped the hand, tipped the hat, tipped everyone but the wait staff!
Do we really think Scott Allen is an "enemy" in any form? No, we don't. He is someone who answered a question.
But flashback to last week's big story at the start of the week. Do you remember it? On Monday, unnamed government employees met in Baghdad with hand picked reporters, stripped of their cells! (they might take photos!), who couldn't reveal whom they were meeting with. If you're lost, see Joshua Partlow's "Military Ties Iran To Arms In Iraq" (Washington Post), Tina Susman and Borzou Daragahi's "U.S. makes case that Iran arms flow into Iraq" (Los Angeles Times) and James Glanz' "U.S. Says Arms Link Iranians To Iraqi Shi'ites" (New York Times).
There was so much that couldn't be revealed! Even information about the alleged IEDs because, if it was revealed, 'insurgents' would know what to go shopping for. ("Honey, did you put it down on the list? I am not making two trips!") It was all hush-hush and, you know this is coming, for everyone's own good.
But what kind of world is it when the US government wants to build a case for war with Iran on a bunch of flimsy rumors and asides while hiding behind the premise that to give details would inform the 'insurgents' of what was going on? Didn't Scott Allen just reveal something?
Or does everyone just assume no one reads USA Today?
Scott Allen didn't do anything wrong. But his actions do demonstrate that the cloak of 'security' is often used by others to disguise false claims.