President Obama, Call Steve Jobs
Releasing information that transpired among senior staff in the high-security Situation Room in the basement of the White House about how to conduct or wind down the war in Afghanistan is not appropriate, the president said.
Other presidents, such as Mr. Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, have made similar threats. Mr. Bush said he would fire anyone who leaked Valerie Plame's name to the press. Scooter Libby, chief of staff for former Vice President Dick Cheney, was indicted and convicted on charges of obstruction and perjury related to the leak, but he quit before anyone could fire him. Libby was sentenced to a 30-month prison terms and fined $250,000. But Mr. Bush commuted the prison sentence.
Mr. Obama has engendered loyalty among his staff during his first year in office, but Washington is a sieve of information, which is the primary currency of the realm.
The press plays a continual guessing game, but the ranks of Apple's employees and the far-reaching supply chain mostly have their lips sealed. Implicit in that silence is a sense of personal loyalty to Mr. Jobs, and a healthy wish for job security. One can imagine Mr. Jobs icily whispering to a leaker about to be escorted out of the building, "You are dead to me."
Daniel Farber is editor-in-chief of CBSNews.com.