That "Confidential" Rumsfeld Memo

So I was scanning the various blogs today when I came across a post over at ~~~TBOGG~~~ and the spin over the Rumsfeld memo. He linked to Junkyardblog, which claimed that the memo was "confidential" and all other sorts of conspiracy theories. To wit,

That lack of basic opsec has placed a confidential memo from SecDef Rumsfeld to his immediate subordinates, including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, into the hands of people who wish them ill, and into the hands of our enemy. ... The leak of this memo is in my mind far worse than the Valerie Plame leak, because it gives our enemies a little window into the mind of the man leading the military aspects of the war. It lets them into the inner circle in a way that the Plame leak--outing an agent who hadn't been under cover for some time--never could. The leaker should be jailed for treason.

Anyway ...

IsThatLegal? made the sensible argument that this wasn't a "leak", but rather a "release."

So I figured I'd go over to the Pentagon's website and read about the press conference where Pentagon spokesperson DeRita addressed the controversy:

And I can answer a few questions on the memo, if that would be helpful.

Q Yeah.

Q Sure.

Q Thank you.

Q Can you give us the memo?

MR. DI RITA: Can I give you the memo? I don’t know.
…
Q Can we have a copy, I mean, if it’s not secret?

MR. DI RITA: It’s a thought. It’s a thought.
Q I mean, since it’s not a secret.

Q If we can’t, is there anything in the USA Today’s printing of it that is incorrect or that eliminated parts —

MR. DI RITA: I’m told that the USA Today article links to a website that may have the memo on it.

Link

Wow, sounds like some really top secret stuff got out ...

Moreover, it's now available on the Pentagon's website here.

Really top secret this stuff.

UPDATE: IsThatLegal has a link to the Pentagon's press release: Super Seekrit Press Release.
posted by A_B at 5:28 PM