Times Publishes Op-Ed With CIA Black-Outs

The Times had been holding an op-ed by a pair of security and service officials for days after the Central Intelligence Agency objected. Today, the Times ran it with the CIA’s blackouts included, and the writers, Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann, explained why:

Here is the redacted version of a draft Op-Ed article we wrote for The Times, as blacked out by the Central Intelligence Agency’s Publication Review Board after the White House intervened in the normal prepublication review process and demanded substantial deletions. Agency officials told us that they had concluded on their own that the original draft included no classified material, but that they had to bow to the White House.

The writers say they are going to continue to push for the full release of the article.

What We Wanted to Tell You About Iran [NYT]

Redacted Version of Original Op-Ed [NYT]

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.