NYT Sat On US-Pakistan Scoop To Appease White House Concerns

At White House behest, NYT sat on scoop

By: Michael Calderone
Nov 20, 2007 08:48 AM EST


When the New York Times published a front page story Sunday about the United States’ and Pakistan’s joint clandestine efforts to protect nuclear weapons, the newspaper offered a glimpse into a “highly classified program” the Bush administration long objected to seeing in print.

That is, apparently, until now.

In the article’s 11th paragraph, the Times disclosed that publication was delayed “for more than three years,” after the administration argued “that premature disclosure could hurt the effort to secure the weapons.”

So after several years, and previous objection, why did the piece now come off the shelf?

Times executive editor Bill Keller did not respond to several requests for comment about what influenced his decision to now publish the piece.

But David Sanger, the Times Chief Washington Correspondent, who co-authored the piece, told Politico that since 2004, Pakistani authorities have made statements “about elements of the program.”

Indeed, the Times disclosed in its Nov. 18 story that “late last year” the head of Pakistan’s nuclear safety effort “acknowledged receiving ‘international’ help.”


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http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1107/6989.html