A free press in a democracy can be messy. But the alternative is to give the government a veto over what its citizens are allowed to know.
— The New York Times Staff and Alexander Star, Open Secrets
According to the Pentagon, about 500,000 people have clearance to use the database from which the secret cables were pilfered.
— The New York Times Staff and Alexander Star, Open Secrets
An air of intrigue verging on paranoia permeated the project, perhaps understandably, given that we were dealing with a mass of classified material and a source who acted like a fugitive — changing crash pads, e-mail addresses and cellphones frequently.
— The New York Times Staff and Alexander Star, Open Secrets
As long as you made a point of hanging out exclusively with people who had the wit to see and to understand that objective reality, you didn’t have to waste a lot of time talking. When a thunderstorm was headed your way across the prairie, you took the washing down from the line and closed the windows. It wasn’t necessary to have a meeting about it. The sales force didn’t need to get involved.
