Dishonorable Disclosures




The outrage at revealing secrets is understandable. Throughout history, secrecy in military operations has been of paramount importance.

More than 2,500 years ago, Sun Tzu detailed in The Art of War:

. . . of all matters none is more confidential than those relating to secret operations.[…]

If plans relating to secret operations are prematurely divulged the agent and all those to whom he spoke of them shall be put to death.

Granted, Sun Tzu's words may not be directly applicable to sensitive disclosures by the Obama administration. However, it's notable that in Sun Tzu's time, revealing operational secrets was a capital offense.