Reply #8: Bradlee on "the national security red flag." [View All]

[BurtWorm]

Las Vegas, Nev.: I watched your Nighline interview with great interest. In explaining how you were all but convinced Nixon was lying, you said, "That national security red flag is -- I've heard it before and I'm just sick of it."

In saying,"I'm just sick of it," it sounded for all the world as though you were about to draw a parallel between Nixon's lies and rationalizations and others you're hearing in 2005.

Your thoughts on this? Thank you.

Ben Bradlee: It's very hard to stand up to the government which is saying that publication will threaten national security. People don't seem to realize that reporters and editors know something about national security and care deeply about it. I spent almost four years on a destroyer in the Pacific ocean during World War II and it makes my blood boil when some guy who maybe ran an insurance company in the Midwest becomes an assistant secretary of this or that and tells me about national security.

It is my experience that most claims of national security are part of a campaign to avoid telling the truth. Remember that Nixon's first comment about Watergate claimed that he was going to be unable to answer questions about Watergate because Watergate involved "matters of national security." That was baloney and Nixon knew it, but the charge convinced some people otherwise. Too bad.