Offering constructive criticism to the social cripples in our midst since early 2005.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Gattigap
Yes. He's a bad, bad man. And should be punished. And was. Though not stringently enough in the eyes of some, even in the absence of dead bodies.

The purpose of security classification is to prevent the wrong people from learning secrets. In Berger's case, there is absolutely no reason to think that the wrong people learned government secrets, or that he intended that this happen. He was reckless, and stupid. In the case of Valerie Plame, someone --- maybe Rove -- intended that many people learn a government secret, and they did. That is not just reckless. Especially when the country is at war. Whoever outed her risked the national security to score political points.