Leaks Botched Anti-Terrorism Efforts?

via Atrios and AMERICAblog

According to ABC news, the recent terrorist attack on London was the culmination of an Al Qaeda plot planned two years ago in Pakistan. The plot was discovered by analyzing the laptop of a captured Al Qaeda leader, Naeem Noor Khan. It was believed at the time that the plot had been thwarted, but (as events this year show) that was not the case.

Here's the twist that is described on AMERICAblog: After his capture, Khan started working for us, as a mole within Al Qaeda. Unfortunately, his cover was blown when the Bush administration announced a heightened terror alert level announced the week of the Democratic Convention. The explanation that the Bush administration gave for the alert led journalists to Khan.

Assuming that AMERICAblog's John Aravosis has his facts (and causality) straight, the slip may have botched the efforts to prevent the London attack. If true, then blowing Valerie Plame's cover wasn't the only (or even the most serious) example of the Bush administration's carelessness with sensitive information.