Do William Arkin’s Political Beliefs Diminish WaPo‘s “Top Secret” Report?
The Washington Post‘s enormously comprehensive “Top Secret America” project – found at TopSecretAmerica.com – has rolled out since yesterday, and the reaction has been wide-ranging.
But now the background of one of the two bylined co-authors, William Arkin, has come into question.
Dana Priest, the other co-author, has a long background in investigative journalism, but Arkin wrote a blog for the Washington Post which looked into the intelligence community. He’s been described as an “activist” and not a “journalist” and in 2002 made comments that made it sound like he was blaming America for 9/11. More recently in 2007, he was the star of an O’Reilly Factor ambush after he described American soldiers as “mercenaries” and spoke out against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (watch it here).
But – here’s the big question: does it really matter? Arkin has never hidden his opinions, but at the same time, he knows the material extremely well. Plus, he is just one of the more than dozen contributors to this massive two-year project – one that even its critics believe is more hype than scandal.
This was the topic of a panel discussion I was part of during Megyn Kelly‘s America Live today. I believe the Washington Post reporting is fair and Arkin’s well-known political beliefs don’t change that. Also, the Post has been clear that government agencies saw the reports before they were published, and parts they objected to were removed, eliminating any security threats as well.
What do you think?
Here’s the panel today:
