Peter King: 'Pattern' of Leaks, 'Amateur Hour' in White House

Rep. Pete King is blasting the Obama administration for a series of national security leaks that seemed to be nothing more than an effort to burnish President Obama’s national security credentials in an election year.

The leaks include a largely admiring view of the president in The New York Times that detailed the method by which drone strike targets are selected. But even more shocking was a follow-up piece in the Times that revealed for the first time details of the administration’s cyber war against Iran.

That piece drew special criticism from many critics because it essentially outed Israel as a partner in the effort just as news accounts revealed a second cyber warfare tool known as the Flame virus.

Speaking to the New York Post, King said the dangerous leaking of vital secrets reflects an “amateur hour” style of management at the White House these days.

“It’s a pattern that goes back two years, starting with the Times Square bomber, where somebody in the federal government, probably the FBI, leaked his name before he was captured. That’s why he tried to leave the country — he knew they were on to him," the New York Republican told Post columnist Michael Goodwin.

“They did it with the movie about Osama bin Laden, leaking all kinds of operational details that are supposed to remain secret and setting up the producer with a member of the SEALs. They mentioned we had DNA, which is how the Pakistanis focused on the doctor they arrested,” said King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

“And now this. It’s like two press releases coming from the Oval Office. It’s unheard of. It puts our people at risk and gives information to the enemy. And it gives our allies a reason not to work with us because what they do might show up on the front page of The New York Times.”

Goodwin agreed, decrying the reckless abandon with which Obama is dispensing national security secrets for obvious political gain.

“This is more than an unseemly spiking of the football,” he wrote. “This is reckless politicking that reflects an his ‘anything goes’ approach to November: Nothing is sacred except four more years.”