Should the press publish the names of American officials who have interrogated captured al Qaeda operatives? That question came sharply to the fore in 2008, when the New York Times went ahead, against strenuous CIA objections, and disclosed the identity of a CIA officer who interrogated Khalid Sheik Mohammed and other high-level al Qaeda prisoners. The identities of intelligence officers are protected by law, but only when they are undercover. In this instance, that was not the case. The man was outed and placed at risk of retaliation and/or harassment by critics of the CIA and its interrogation policies.
The Times argued in an editor’s note that publication of “the name was necessary for the credibility and completeness of the article” and that the agent in question, “a career analyst at the agency until his retirement a few years ago, did not directly participate in waterboarding or other harsh interrogation methods that critics describe as torture and, in fact, turned down an offer to be trained in such tactics.”
