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
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
The dispatches from this outpost represent in miniature the audacious ambitions, gradual disillusionment and ultimate disappointment that Afghanistan has dealt to occupiers over the centuries.
— 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.
