Washington Post

The Washington Post Shocks/Scares D.C. With Real Reporting

National Security

Monday, July 19, 2010; 1:53 AM

The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.

These are some of the findings of a two-year investigation by The Washington Post that discovered what amounts to an alternative geography of the United States, a Top Secret America hidden from public view and lacking in thorough oversight. After nine years of unprecedented spending and growth, the result is that the system put in place to keep the United States safe is so massive that its effectiveness is impossible to determine.


The investigation’s other findings include:

* Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States.

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Wapo Reporter Achenbach Defends His Friend's Time Magazine Puff Piece on the Dangerous Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck, GOP, Jamison Foser, Joel Achenbach, Media, Media Matters, Nutjobs, Time Magazine, Washington Post

Glenn BeckM E D I A  M A T T E R S

WaPo reporter and “close friend” of Von Drehle defends Beck profile; attacks me

September 18, 2009 12:06 pm ET – by Jamison Foser

Washington Post reporter Joel Achenbach leaps to his “close friend” David Von Drehle’s defense, calling my criticism of Von Drehle’s Glenn Beck profile “shrill,” and accuses me of criticizing the article “because one of the targets of Dave’s story is Media Matters itself. Which Foser doesn’t bother to note.”

Let’s take that part first: Ludicrous. Von Drehle makes only passing mention of Media Matters; here it is:

“[T]here are ancillary industries feeding on the success of Beck and others like him. Both left- and right-wing not-for-profit groups operate as self-anointed media watchdogs, and one of the largest of these — the liberal group Media Matters for America — has a multimillion-dollar budget. Staff members monitor Beck’s every public utterance, poised to cherry-pick the most inflammatory sentences. (Conservative outfits do the same for the likes of MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann.) These nuggets are used in turn to rev up donations to political parties and drive ratings for the endless rounds of talking-head shows.”

Really? That’s what led Achenbach to conclude that “one of the targets of Dave’s story is Media Matters,” and that I was motivated by a desire for revenge? Seems pretty weak.

Achenbach’s defense of his “close pal” David Von Drehle, and his attack on me, curiously avoids any discussion whatsoever of my central point: That Von Drehle failed to indicate a single falsehood Beck has ever told. That Von Drehle portrayed “liberal” estimates of the size of last week’s anti-Obama rally as no more valid than estimates from conservatives — estimates of 1 to 2 million people. Despite the fact that there clearly were not a million people at the rally. And despite the fact that the “liberal” estimates in fact came from news organizations and the DC fire department.

Since Achenbach ducked all that, here are some simple questions for him:

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Howie Kurtz Slobbers All Over John McCain

Stories

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From Monday’s WAPO 

Accessibility Opens Doors For McCain

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 21, 2008; C01

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — As the JetBlue charter from Michigan touched down in South Carolina, I strolled up to John McCain‘s front-row seat — none of his aides batted an eye — and asked if he would continue to chat with reporters around the clock if he won the Republican nomination.

Most candidates, after all, grow more cautious around the media mob as the stakes get higher.

McCain said he couldn’t stop, because “that destroys credibility.” And besides, he said, “I enjoy it a lot. It keeps me intellectually stimulated, it keeps me thinking about issues, and it keeps me associated with a lower level of human being than I otherwise would be.”

There he goes again.

McCain’s ability to charm the press wasn’t responsible for his big win in Saturday’s South Carolina primary, but it didn’t hurt. After the slimy, rumor-filled campaign run against him in that state in 2000, media outlets yesterday embraced the notion that his triumph was “poetic justice” (Chicago Tribune), “exorcising the ghosts” of South Carolina (New York Times) and a “spiritual victory” (Slate).

Every presidential campaign is constantly calculating whether journalists are potential allies or incorrigible foes. The media are a great — and dirt-cheap — vehicle for carrying a candidate’s message, but submitting to questioning also carries the risk of being thrown on the defensive, as Mitt Romney learned in a tense exchange with Associated Press veteran Glen Johnson last week over the role of lobbyists in his campaign.

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