While US has troops stuck in trenches in Wanat, and other "Crevices" in Afghanistan for months without end....it's "number one ally" is getting deeper in bed with it's "number one enemy". Perpetual War = Perpetual Economy.

Also, I don't think Feinstein "slipped". I think it was an engineered "leak". After all, we never heard a peep from her during 8 years of Bush II. the leak HELPS zardari: he's NOT the originator of the Drone problem..he's the inheritor.

The Punjabi elites who run Pakistan military could care less about Taliban. they see them as useful. the US knows this too. it's a "great game".

Maybe Obama's urging during the campaign of throwing Musharaff under the bus was a bad idea. Things in Pakistan certainly don't seem to have improved.

Good to know that the senator has learned absolutely nothing about discretion in her long career. During a news conference in 1985, the SF mayor Feinstein disclosed information about the serial killer Richard Ramirez that the police had closely protected! As a result, Ramirez (the 'Night Stalker') got rid of the shoes for which the LAPD had recovered treadmark castings.

Diane - you are on a sub committee with access to top secret information during a time of war... keep your trap shut!

It would be of use to the Republic if the Senate considered treating its members who deal in insider (ie intelligence) information for personal benefit in the same manner as public corporations who find board members doing the same.

Disclaimer: I believe that all requests made by elected officials, appointed members of the executive and general officers for the investment of our blood or treasury should be subject to the same scrutiny and personal liability and accountability as demanded by the SarbanesOxley Act for publicly traded companies. This personal bias for truth and accountability may color my perception of the integrity requirements for those who hold elected or uniform dress offices.

I'm sure that the families of any service members killed when the base comes under attack will take great comfort in knowing that Senator Feinstein was only trying to protect their constitutional rights. Certainly she wasn't simply acting casually towards sensitive matters, as she has done in the past.

The Chairperson of the Intelligence Subcommittee should be better. She has failed those of us in the military and she has failed the American people.

"We desperately need some elected officials who have the legal right and obligation to look at the secrets and reveal them if in their opinion they need to be revealed. We need somebody to take the place of the idiot boy who announces that the King has no clothes, when the King has no clothes."

I agree. Even the likes of John McCain failed to live up...this is why the SarbOx approach is important it requires active verification and integrity. Note how in the current environment Enron likes are not appearing except in industries where it was exempted. It would require release of information that counters Condi opera with piano events or Gonzales certifications. (It must be a real fearsome thing to do to require integrity and honesty as Newt Gingrich is being paid to solicit a SarbOx repeal.)

since sen feinstein is a shrewd and experienced politician and member of senate intelligence committee, more than likely this was a deliberate statement calculated for effect

it would be interesting to know your speculation on that

I am stunned at the fantasy world in which some of you seem to exist. This is apparently a current classified operation carried out IN COOPERATION with the Pakistani government (which was obvious to those of us who understand irony and/or have seen Casablanca).

The Pak government is in a virtually impossible situation - trying to fight Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism without imploding their shaky democracy - a shaky democracy with nuclear weapons! Quiet cooperation with the Pakistani military and government (who do not have the same agenda... for those of you not paying attention) is critical if we are to keep this critical country afloat and achieve any sort of success in Afghanistan.

Some things need to be secret - particularly ongoing operations carried out in support of legitimate authorized policy. Obama specifically endorsed drone strikes in Pakistan as a candidate and has now authorized them as president. The challenge he faces is getting people in positions of authority to carry out these operations within the law and with appropriate congressional oversight. Feinstein's stupidity will only serve to discourage intelligence agencies from full disclosure for fear of jeopardizing legitimate operations. She is the one who should apologize - quietly to the appropriate people. Either that, or her clearances should be reviewed and downgraded as necessary.

The outgoing President Bush has so tarnished American image that it will require most effective measures to renew American presence in the FATA with both goodwill and a package of reconstruction of technical schools and cottage industries to engage the people in productive activities. The immediate measure is to install a powerful Radio station in Peshawar to try to wind the hearts and minds of the affected people and to stop killings of innocent people.

J. Thomas...how could you think for one moment that the military without any civilian oversight set up a base in Pakistan flying Predators to strike targets? Do you have any clue at all how the Department of Defense works? Who approved funding? Who coordinated with the Pak government for basing rights? These things aren't done in a vacuum. We don't just show up and take over a base in a soveriegn country and no one in State, DoD or the White House doesn't know it. The mission is to kill terrorists who are using Pak as a staging ground to kill innocent people. You may not like the fact that sometimes people die in war and we do things that are unsavory to protect innocent people but curl up safely in your little cocoon tonight knowing that brave men are risking their lives so you can whine on message boards.

At the end of the month or year or war, did rocketing occupied compounds in Pakistan put us closer or farther from our Central Asia war aim, which is by definition a political goal? That's the heart of the drone issue. Not the 'secret base' leak kerfufle.

Did Intel chairwoman Feinstein ask the money question on our behalf; are missile-strike decapitation tactics making progress in a winning Pakistan strategy? And what answer did we get from Blair, the National Intelligence Director ? PM Zadari 'sorting out his cooperation with us' is not an answer.

War wonks cursing at Feinstein's slip might remind themselves that Pres. Reagan's staff goofed and let him go on-air to announce our bombing of Libya, before all our planes had cleared enemy defenses. Look it up.

Shit happens in war; potentially lethal mistakes are made at every level. However neglected it was in the last administration, public demonstration of congressional oversight is a war-duty. Sen. Feinstein is a senior officer of the war-authorizing congress that every military officer swears an oath to serve. The big suck would be if we weren't achieving something worth killing and dying for. That happens too.

Re 'secret Pakistan drone bases', anyone who's lived in a five mile radius of an airport can acquire a pretty good sense of what's coming off the runway. Given strong popular resistance to air attacks on insurgents and their moslem neighbors, plus the ISI's curious history, whatever the locals talk and speculate on will soon get to the insurgent infowariors. IF the launch of these big distinctive drones was not already known to be originating (in some cases) from Pakistan, it soon would have been propaganda fodder, and the contract groundcrews targeted.

Do we really want to be in a position with Zadari where our side is denying, and the bad guys are putting us to the lie?

So far, not much discussion here as to why we would want to risk groundcrews, accept eventual political heat and collatoral to Zadari by launching strike drones from inside IROP. These improved drones can range over most of Pashtunistan from Bagram, and feature incredible loiter-on-station time. My sense is that the IROP side of the mtns is short on high-value-targets, and the drones may often return with unfired missiles on the rails.

More payload, quicker turnaround and more time on station might be a limited rationale. But Gates' 'need more drones' comments, and the Wanat discussion here do highlight a shortage in the Afghan theater. What with Iraq still sucking the air assets out of the room, doing more with less from 'secret bases' could be reason enough. Until the secret's out.

After the 'drone leak', the covert basing operational-beneifit vs political-risk ratio starts looking like millions/billions. That's a poor efficiency bargain, if bringing more birds from Balad to Bagram was an option.

As an alternative to an op-tac rationale, is the legality of our missile fire into buildings cohabited by non-combatants a more powerful motivation for opening a base in Pakistan? Do we want or need the deniability of their officer to order drone killing of Pakistanis from their territory? Maybe an Air Force adjutant or law of war expert can dial in the legal issues for Mr. Ricks readers.

If a missile-UAV was armed and launched under a Pakistani contract, and the bearded bads obliterated under an IROP watch officer, that should break a chain of collateral accountability that leads back to Feinstein, among others. Deniability and avoiding accountability is something both congress and the puzzle palace has had time to think about.

Visualize today's drone offensive over an impoverished mountain region, where midwinter finds flocks and families down where the available housing is in high demand. Often a whole family crowds to a single room or two, along with food stores and seed-stock, tools, maybe even poultry. Feb. is indoor weather, and destruction of any valley shelter risks taking a high toll. "Risks" in the statistical probability sense that casino, Air Force and artillery staffs know a lot about.

Wiki tells me that 40% of Pakistan is under 14 years, and I suspect that rural Pashtunistan is younger than the more urban Punjabis. More than 3/4 of any collatoral kill' won't even be MAM. That's the reality that CENTCOM has to quantify, qualify, and crank into our COIN-drone war calculus. If we're not counting the cost, that's a truth-moment in itself; the folks writing the checks think it doesn't matter.

When we bomb, rocket or shell an enemy occupied village, it inevitably takes on an aspect of collective punishment. 'Shock and awe' means that the surivors are terrorized. That's a featured tertiary weapons effect. When terrorized, we in the US look for some way to hit back. Is that the reaction we seek in Pakistan?

Are we rocketing in Pakistan because we've done the hard-eyed intel work that tells us it's integral to winning? That's the 'leak' I'm hoping for. God help us if this is a war of political expedience, because we have that new drone kind of hammer at hand, and haven't run out of things to hit with it.

Uhhh... yeah. OK. No need to continue this conversation.

Tom - sorry if this is starting to sound like the WaPo blog.

I am sure this is pre planned. Senetor can't be that stupid.
The traitor Zardari and Duffer PM both got what they deserve.
In the first place they should not be the leader of Pakistan. They are both scumbag rascals, plundrers, corrupt, inept Bastards who grabbed the power due to the sympathy vote on the death of Benazir.

This seems one of the measures to put pressure on stupid, scared and intimidated of USA Zardari in the wake of the change of Administration in Washinton. His secret accounts with looted money being frozen or confiscated is the worst of the threat for him. He would drop his pent if had to.

This thing is good for Pakistanis to know exactly who have they chosen as their leader. My be it is blessing in disguise for the Pakistan. We should and can not see this incident in isolation.