Stevenson’s army, April 13

I had planned, in next week’s class on the media, to say that most US leaks on foreign policy come from 3 sources: [1] administration officials launching trial balloons; [2] losers in the interagency fights who want to rally opponents; and [3] whistleblowers who want to expose some terrible government activities. According to WaPo, however, the leaker of recent highly classified documents was a 4th type — the Showoff who wants to demonstrate his inside knowledge. WaPo has tracked down the leaker, who seems to be a youg man in his 20s, working on a military base, who is an enthusiast about guns and gaming. No other apparent agenda.

Other reports based on the leaks say: Ukraine war is headed for stalemate.

– There’s lots of infighting among Russian officials.

– Serbia denies sending arms to Ukraine.

– Politico explains why the leaks went undetected for so long.

-NYT explains why Brazil won’t help Ukraine.

SAIS prof Cancian analyzes the service wish lists.

Atlantic Council has expert report on defense innovation. Document here.

NYT notes unrestrained behavior when strong partisan control of state legislatures.

My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here, with occasional videos of my choice. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).