LIE OF THE WEEK: 04-07-2006

White House spokesman Scott McClellan on the President possibly authorizing leaking of classified information (in an act of unilateral declassification):

Of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, part of which Mr. Libby shared with Judith Miller, then a [New York] Times reporter, Mr. McClellan said, "There was nothing in there that would compromise national security."

THE TRUTH: This administration has been the most secretive ever in terms of keeping harmless information classified for no apparent purpose, other than potential political concerns. The fact that they are actually reclassifying already declassified information is also troublesome. For them to now come out and justify potential illegal acts of unilateral declassification for political purposes by stating that the information was no risk to national security is the ultimate in hypocrisy. Also, this act of declassification involved the exposure of the identity of an undercover CIA agent, which put her and all of her contacts and others using her front company at risk, so I doubt the assertion is even true for this purely political abuse of power.