DANIEL ELLSBERG, EDWARD SNOWDEN, AND THE MODERN WHISTLE-BLOWER
Pozen argues that governments look the other way when it comes to leaks because it is in their interest to do so. He cites a story that ran in the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post in 2012 about how the C.I.A., with the coöperation of Yemeni authorities, was using drone strikes against Yemen-based Al Qaeda militants. The drone program was classified: that story didn’t come from a press conference. Pozen says the story was clearly a “plant”—that is, a leak made with the full authorization of the White House. Letting the facts slip out served a purpose for the Obama Administration. A plant like that, Pozen writes, “keeps the American people minimally informed of its pursuits, characterizes them in a manner designed to build support, and signals its respect for international law.”
But if you want to reserve your right to plant an authorized leak, Pozen argues, you have to allow unauthorized leaks as well:
For a strategy of planting to work, it is critical that relevant audiences not immediately assume that every unattributed disclosure they encounter reflects a concerted White House effort to manipulate the information environment. The practice of planting requires some amount of constructive ambiguity as to its prevalence and operation.
In a world where every stealthy disclosure is a plant, the journalist is a stooge, the Administration’s motives are transparent, and the government of Yemen is exposed. But, when the origin of the disclosure is uncertain, all parties save face. “Plants need to be watered with leaks,” Pozen writes. He continues, “It is loosely analogous to what a game theorist would call mixed-strategy equilibrium: an approach that generates sufficient randomness (or apparent randomness) across government sources as to degrade the ability of outsiders to predict the nature and origin of any given disclosure.”
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/12/19/daniel-ellsberg-edward-snowden-and-the-modern-whistle-blower
"Plant" -- official fake news.
