OPINION:
The congressional outcry over the leaking of secret information about military operations by the Obama administration reminds me of what happened during the Nixon-Kennedy battle for the presidency in 1960 (“Top lawmakers pledge to crack down on leaks,” World, Friday).
Then-candidate John F. Kennedy hammered Richard Nixon about the missile gap with the Soviet Union. President Eisenhower (and, I presume, Nixon) knew there was no such missile gap. They knew that because the information from the U-2 flights showed we had many more missiles than the Soviets. However, neither one could say that publicly. To do so would have exposed the existence of the flights, which were top-secret at the time.
Nixon may have won that election had the Eisenhower administration released the information about the false claim by Kennedy. It didn’t because the safety of the nation came before trying to win an election. The Obama administration puts elections ahead of national security.
JOSEPH R. FARRELL
Alexandria
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