The recent publication by The Intercept of the “The Drone Papers” should have made an explosive splash both in the media and Washington, D.C. But the leak of classified documents has so far generated only modest media coverage (as of this writing, The New York Times has yet to cover it), and there has been no acknowledgment of it by elected officials.

Sadly, the only action likely to result from the U.S. government in response to “The Drone Papers” is to attempt to determine the identity of The Intercept’s anonymous source and to strengthen its security clearance procedures. According to Scahill, “The Intercept granted the source’s request for anonymity because the materials are classified and because the U.S. government has engaged in aggressive prosecution of whistleblowers.” NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, who faces such prosecution, hailed his counterpart’s courage, saying on Twitter, “In an astonishing act of civil courage, one American just shattered an unspeakable lie.” He also called the revelations in “The Drone Papers” “the most important national security story of the year.”

Even though “The Drone Papers” were released a few days after the first Democratic presidential debate, the controversial program should have been an issue raised by moderator Anderson Cooper. Candidates vying for the post of commander in chief ought to be confronted with the question of whether they would take over Obama’s personal role in singling out assassination targets when they occupy the White House. Regrettably, neither Bernie Sanders, who proudly declared that he supports the war in Afghanistan, nor Hillary Clinton, who has been hawkish on most of Obama’s wars, had to publicly declare their positions. Again, the drone program remains an open secret that everyone knows about but no one acknowledges during political discourse.