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> Senator Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who is chairman of the committee, said he was surprised by the Pentagon's decision because "so much of this has already been in the public domain,

While I strangely find myself on the same side of an issue as Arlen Spectre, I must say that DoD protocol on classified info in the public domain is to act stupid and not acknowledge it. Cleared employees are not allowed to speak on such matters just because everyone in public is speaking on it. Certainly, the Pentagon is doing a real good job of "acting stupid."

In this case, however, I think the Pentagon should grant the men permission to speak.

There is precedent in this matter. When LBJ started blabbing about the super secret SR-71 in a televised speech, the generals almost s#!^ a brick. Worse still, LBJ had flubbed, because the actual name of the plane was the RS-71 (for reconaissance/strike), since the original YF-12 prototype was to be equipped with air to air missiles for continental defense. The solution? The existence of the program was declassified within two days, and the plane was officially renamed, and a new naming convention was adopted: SR = strategic reconaissance.