Shadow Government
A front-row seat to the Republicans' debate over foreign policy, including their critique of the Biden administration.

National security leaks exacerbate divisions within Republican Party

Because of the sensitive material covered in the NSA leaks, it is hard for Shadow Government contributors to talk much about the topic du jour. The obvious is obvious, however: This is one of the most damaging national security leaks the United States has suffered in a while. This is qualitatively different from other leaks ...

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Because of the sensitive material covered in the NSA leaks, it is hard for Shadow Government contributors to talk much about the topic du jour. The obvious is obvious, however: This is one of the most damaging national security leaks the United States has suffered in a while. This is qualitatively different from other leaks -- for instance, those about the drone-strike program that seemed calculated to generate favorable headlines for Barack Obama's administration. On the contrary, as with the earlier WikiLeaks fiasco, and as the leaker has explicitly claimed, these were designed to hobble the U.S. government in general, and the Obama administration in particular.

Because of the sensitive material covered in the NSA leaks, it is hard for Shadow Government contributors to talk much about the topic du jour. The obvious is obvious, however: This is one of the most damaging national security leaks the United States has suffered in a while. This is qualitatively different from other leaks — for instance, those about the drone-strike program that seemed calculated to generate favorable headlines for Barack Obama’s administration. On the contrary, as with the earlier WikiLeaks fiasco, and as the leaker has explicitly claimed, these were designed to hobble the U.S. government in general, and the Obama administration in particular.

Coming on the heels of multiple headlines about abuses of government power, especially the efforts of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to target political opponents of the Obama administration, it may be tempting for Republicans to pile on to criticize the administration for the intelligence programs revealed in the leaks. Some Republicans, notably Sen. Rand Paul, are already doing so.

This is a mistake, however, as Bill Kristol explains. It is important to distinguish between the IRS scandal, which is indefensible, and intelligence collection programs aimed at tracking terrorist networks, which serve legitimate public interests.

If Paul’s reaction is any guide, the Republican Party’s libertarian wing seems disinclined to draw that distinction. Perhaps some of the collateral damage from all these leaks will end up being a further splintering of the Republican Party on national security.

Peter D. Feaver is a professor of political science and public policy at Duke University, where he directs the Program in American Grand Strategy.

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