Government Spokesman Instructs Media to Ignore Leaked Intelligence: It's 'Not Intended for Public Consumption'

United States National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications (an unnecessarily august title for a government propagandist) John Kirby has been having a rough go of it as of late.

He struggled recently to explain away the botched Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021 that resembled the last helicopters off the roof of Saigon in another of the Pentagon’s long and growing list of military failures.

Now, leaked intelligence documents show how the proverbial neoliberal geopolitical sausage gets made, and it’s as ugly as one might expect.

Via CNN:

Highly classified Pentagon documents leaked online in recent weeks have provided a rare window into how the US spies on allies and foes alike, deeply rattling US officials, who fear the revelations could jeopardize sensitive sources and compromise important foreign relationships.

Some of the documents, which US officials say are authentic, expose the extent of US eavesdropping on key allies, including South Korea, Israel and Ukraine.

In the U.S. government’s defense, most intelligence agencies around the world probably spy on their allies with as much or perhaps even more gusto than they do their enemies. “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer,” as the adage goes.

But it’s a bad look for obvious reasons, one which the likes of John Kirby would be eager to suppress, because it implies a lack of trust in allies that the U.S. government publicly professes to trust deeply, such as Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

To remedy the situation, Kirby has simply instructed the lapdog U.S. media not to report on the contents of the leaked intelligence.

Via Fox News (emphasis added):

White House National Security spokesman John Kirby warned against sharing leaked documents, while still refusing to confirm their authenticity…

“Again, without confirming the validity of the documents, this is information that has no business in the public domain,” he told the press in a Monday briefing. “It has no business — if you don’t mind me saying — on the front pages of newspapers or on television. It is not intended for public consumption, and it should not be out there.

The audacity!

That’s how leaks work, John: information not intended for public consumption is leaked into the public sphere. If it’s true information, then journalists are free to run with it and offer their analysis, free from government harassment.

How is this not illegal?

“Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press,” reads the First Amendment.

Because Kirby is a member of the executive branch and his warning against reporting on the leaks could be construed as opinion rather than an actual legally binding order prohibiting it, it is arguable that his demand doesn’t run afoul of the letter of the law. But it’s clearly contrary to its spirit.

As a general principle, we allow government actors entirely too much leeway to find creative ways to abuse our Constitutional rights, including the sacred one to know what the government does in our name with our money.