I have held a security clearance since the mid 1970's and this "public talk" is all very unnerving. All of this NSA stuff does NOT belong out in public and I really want the NYT publisher is prison for treason - he has damaged this country's ability to intercept islamofacists electronic communications forever. No different than Ethel and Julius Rosenberg but for a different type of war! I really could care less about the freedom of the press when it conflicts with NATIONAL SECURITY!!
I only had a "Secret" clearance in the army, although for a while I was the company classified documents clerk. Mainly that involved keeping track of the technical documents used for radar repairs, and burning of extra, unneeded documents in a 55-gallon oil drum out in back.
I think I can now safely say that I learned about the existence of Claymore mines at that time, before they were used in Vietnam, because somebody who couldn't be bothered to dispose of a secret manual properly sent me the instructions on how to set them up, which I burned. Didn't seem much point in keeping the manual in the library when we didn't have any Claymore mines around and had no brief to repair them.
At least the first Vietcong they used them on were probably surprised.
I agree with you completely that the Times reporter and editors responsible for the security leaks should be punished, and that their sources should be even more heavily punished. But what we're talking about here is a political operator, Fitzgerald, who is helping the Democrats play games with national security, pretending you can't trust the assistant to the V.P. to keep secrets.