Tired of Leaks, Obey Is Fixing a Hole

What do House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) and Richard Nixon have in common? They hate leakers.

So Obey, trying to stop colleagues' leaks about the Democrats' controversial Iraq war funding strategy, tried to trap the leakers.

"Three days ago, I gave several members of our caucus false information on purpose, because I wanted to see who the hell was leaking that information," Obey told National Journal. "So these people aren't being invited to the meetings anymore."

Asked who the suspects were, Obey spokeswoman Kirsten Brost said she had asked Obey but "he told me not to leak that information."

Committee member James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), for one, said he does not believe he is a suspect. "I may leak, but I don't leak inaccurate information," Moran told our colleague Michael Shear.

"I think Dave's under a fair amount of stress," Moran said. "He gets the job done. But he has a tendency to stress out and even lash out at members." Moran said Obey "has to understand that this is not the CIA or the FBI. The public likes to know what we're doing. Hell, I think we should tell them everything we know and let the chips fall where they may. But that makes thing difficult for leadership because they lose control."

And Now the Army Looks Into Care

The Army's public-affairs folks are being instructed to do a little proactive digging to prepare for questions reporters might raise in the wake of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center scandal.

The flacks "should immediately contact their local medical facilities to determine if they may have any issues which may draw media attention given the current media environment," Army communications planner Lt. Col. Wayne Shanks said in an e-mail Monday afternoon to all public-affairs officers.

"Also, please alert" the Army's Office of the Chief of Public Affairs, Shanks wrote, "if you have any possible medical care issues with your unit/installation which may attract negative national media attention."

The spokesmen have to be "painfully transparent as a matter of course, especially" on medical-care issues, he wrote, adding: "Please use the following as over-arching medical talking points:

" · Soldiers are the heart of our Army and the quality of their medical care is non-negotiable.

" · We are committed to outstanding professional medical care for Soldiers and their families."