Hello DB,
In the book (and updated more recently in The New Yorker), he told the disturbing story of the spy Jonathon Pollard, an American Jew who worked for U.S. Navy intelligence, and had great access to classified information.
One of the things that surprised me in Hersh's recent New Yorker article was this matter of his sources.
I have the impression that his writing since the My Lai material has drawn very heavily on strong CIA sources. And I suspected they went to Hersh because (a) he would get their story out in places it would be read, given his reputation, (b) he, to my knowledge, is as good if not better than Woodward about keeping the names of his sources to himself, and (c) if I knew enough about internal bureaucratic warfare within the CIA, I might be able to figure out why the leaks occured. I say this latter because I just finished the latest book on Richard Nixon, Richard Reeve's book. It reminded me, all over again, of just how leaking is a part the internal power struggles.
But, in this most recent case, it does not appear that his sources were CIA. Very interesting. I suspect we'll learn more, both about what happened in Afghanistan and how Hersh came to write this piece.
John |
