Consider the editorial staff of the Times. They must have some connection (in the closet or otherwise) with some career officer. It's called blackmail. Just a guess of course.
By stating out loud and on the front page, above the fold, it is a direct declaration. They will try to turn this into a Pentagon Papers if they can. Something stinks but it is not in Denmark.
"Pentagon Papers" is what I was thinking of, too. Also, the way the headline was worded reminded me of a Reuters headline the other day which was worded similarly but was trying to blame Rumsfeld. I suspect the "Times" wanted to pin this on Rumsfeld but they couldn't make it stick, so pinning it on Sanchez was the next-best thing, and they're hoping to use that to implicate Rumsfeld somehow.