Hume reported House GOP denunciation of covert ops leak to ABC, but not CIA and White House's lack of objection
On the June 6 edition of Fox News' Special Report, Fox News Washington managing editor Brit Hume reported that "[a] group of House Republicans is calling for an investigation into leaks" to ABC News that led to ABC's May 22 report that "the CIA is conducting covert actions in Iran" with President Bush's approval. Those Republicans, Hume stated, "complain that such leaks about covert operations, quote, 'tip our hand to help our enemies.' " But Hume did not report that, according to a statement by ABC News, the White House and the CIA offered no objections to the ABC report.
From a May 23 entry on the ABC News weblog The Blotter:
In a statement ABC News said, "In the six days since we first contacted the CIA and the White House, at no time did they indicate that broadcasting this report would jeopardize lives or operations on the ground. ABC News management gave them the repeated opportunity to make whatever objection they wanted to regarding our report. They chose not to."
From the June 6 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume:
HUME: A group of House Republicans is calling for an investigation into leaks reported by ABC News claiming the CIA is conducting covert actions in Iran. ABC News reported last month that President Bush has ordered a campaign of propaganda, disinformation, and financial manipulation in Iran. The Republicans complain that such leaks about covert operations, quote, "tip our hand to help our enemies."
—R.S.K.
