Who Benefits from the Recent Avalanche of Security Breaches?

In recent months there has been a veritable avalanche of security leaks – deliberate leaks of classified information from various places in the federal government.  These leaks, one fears, have shut down valuable sources of intelligence information – and in a few cases, may have put lives at risk (or worse).

The Obama administration recently appointed to special prosecutors to track down and squash these leaks.  Nobody seems to expect these prosecutors to actually accomplish anything; almost universally the body politic sees these as a sop to the ignorant masses and a way for Obama to be seen as taking command of the situation.

Why would this be seen so universally as a charade?  Peggy Noonan puts her finger on it exactly.  Anybody looking at the situation, including the pajama-clad blogging masses, can see one fact plain as day: the beneficiary of these leaks is, without exception, Barack Obama.  Faced with such a clear pattern, you don't have to be very cynical to suspect political, self-serving shenanigans are at work – or to believe that the appointment of the special prosecutors is a cynical charade designed to appease an ignorant public.  Also, unfortunately, one can be forgiven for suspecting that the charade will work...