WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is suggesting that a retired Navy SEAL be punished for writing a book giving an insider's account of the U.S. raid that killed terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.
Asked in a network interview if he thinks the writer should be prosecuted, Panetta replied, "I think we have to take steps to make clear to him and to the American people that we're not going to accept this kind of behavior."
Ditto for putting Bradley Manning on trial in the WikiLeaks case, and I think there should be a greater effort than has apparently been made so far to find and prosecute whoever in the White House did the leaking about the cyberattacks on Iran. We shouldn't prejudge the cases -- let the trials show what information was released, what damage it did and what laws were broken. But just bringing the cases is important to send the message that even in the everybody-tells-everbody-else-everything Information Age, national security is still vital and secrets are necessary for national security. Soldiers especially need to be held accountable for any breaches of the oaths they take. We can't afford to accept anything less than their best behavior.
