By JOSH MEYER
Is this really the worst time ever to be a journalist covering national security issues, especially in Washington?
Maybe the best way to describe it is to quote Charles Dickens from his A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.’’
It’s the best of times because of all the great and important news out there. Two wars are winding down. We have a president who has become even more hawkish and willing to embrace the “war on terrorism” paradigm. The looming confrontation with Iran is another great story, including the mysterious cyberattacks against its nuclear program. Army Private Bradley Manning faces life in prison for giving classified materials to Wikileaks. And 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed may finally go on trial.
Washington these days should be a candy store for reporters covering national security, whether they actually live here or cover the issues from their local community. There’s even a November election to spice everything up.
So why is everyone in the media complaining? Because by all accounts, the Obama administration and Congress have made it virtually impossible for them to do their jobs.
The losers are the American public, who as a result are learning less and less about what their government is doing in the name of protecting them, at the very time when the world is getting more and more precarious.