The Obama Administration should not be surprised that people in the military and intelligence fields object to the leaks of national security secrets by top levels of the government. The group of retired Navy Seals and CIA operatives who put out a 22 minute video chastising the President for the leaks have been gaining increased attention, with a YouTube program getting over 1,168,000 hits so far.

But Eric Boehlert, a senior fellow of the left wing Media Matters online journal, is criticizing the Op Sec team as "gutless" for not admiting that they are fronting for the Republican Party. To that Op Sec has reacted angrily.
Some of the OPSECTeam probably are Republican. Some probably are not. Scott Taylor seen on camera, is a former GOP candidate for Congress. Yet they also are quoting Democrats who were appalled that the White House would endanger secret personnel and sources in pursuit of political credit for what was, in fact, a military program. In any case, so what?

The breach of national security from the top is a serious business. Everyone knows the tight rules placed on classified information and classified programs. For the President and his staff to violate those rules is to complicate compliance elsewhere.

Doesn't it make it harder to pursue the likes of Julian Assange, whose Wikileaks revelations of US documents and communications endangered lives and compromised sources if the White House has done the same? Assange did it to hurt the US. Obama's team did it for political purposes. The distinction is real, but the motivation of the White House still doesn't stand scrutiny. It should be more of a public issue, not less.