From my column this week:

When is a “secret” not a secret?

When The New York Times decides, in the interest of saving its old gray hide, that it is not.

On June 22, the paper trumpeted its expose of “a secret Bush administration program” to track terror finances. The banking program, reporters Eric Lichtblau and James Risen made unmistakably clear, was a “closely held secret.” The front-page story referred to the secret nature of the program no less than eight times. A Times-produced Web video featuring Lichtblau promoted a brief interview in which he “reveal(ed) a secret Bush administration program to access financial records.”

But by July 2, smarting from the public backlash against its blabbermouth coverage, the Times crew was backpedaling faster than circus monkeys on barrels hurtling over Niagara Falls…

Watch the rise of more Times’ hot air at Hot Air.

The Prowler at the American Spectator reports on how the NYT/LA Times’ leaks ignored warning that their stories on the SWIFT financial tracking system presented risks for three ongoing terrorism financing investigations.