Tipsheet

NIE Leaky, Leaky, Freaky-Deaky Crackdown

A Dem staffer suspended over possible leak of the NIE to the NYT:

House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra has suspended a Democratic staff member because of concerns he may have leaked a high-level intelligence assessment to The New York Times last month.

In a letter obtained by The Associated Press Thursday night, Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill., a committee member, said that an unidentified staffer requested the document from National Intelligence Director John Negroponte three days before the Sept. 23 story about its conclusions.

The staffer received the National Intelligence Estimate on global terror trends on Sept. 21.

"I have no credible information to say any classified information was leaked from the committee's minority staff, but the implications of such would be dramatic," LaHood wrote Hoekstra, R-Mich., late last month. "This may, in fact, be only coincidence, and simply 'look bad.' But coincidence, in this town, is rare."

Dems: No grounds.

Allah: It's a start.

PowerLine: Meh, doesn't matter who did it, per se. There's always a Dem who's willing.

Jawa: Don't expect this to make many headlines.

Tigerhawk: Wow, if true, that'd sure be dumb.

Ace: The party of leaking security secrets and sexual orientations. Aim high!

Michelle Malkin: The Dems are "appalled."