N.Y. Times Downplayed Clapper ABC Gaffe -- No Critics, Only Pals Who Found It 'Deeply Misleading'

Yesterday, we reviewed how other national networks skipped out on ABC’s accidental discovery in an interview last week that James Clapper, Obama’s director of national intelligence, had no clue about London terror arrests that had been splashed all over TV that day. Several newspapers picked up the story on December 23, but they were all stocked only with chummy Clapper supporters trying to undo the damage. Scott Shane’s article in the December 23 New York Times (headlined "White House Rallies Round National Intelligence Chief") was mostly a White House recounting of why no one should be alarmed by Clapper’s ignorance. Readers were told the gaffe was “deeply misleading.”

Shane began: “The Obama administration scrambled on Wednesday to undo the damage from an ABC News clip that appeared to show that James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, was clueless on Monday about terrorism arrests in Britain that had been a major news story for hours.” The scrambling paid off, because the Times quoted no one scolding Clapper, even the liberals who scolded him on MSNBC. It was all damage control:

John O. Brennan, President Obama's counterterrorism adviser, who appeared in the interview with Mr. Clapper and Janet Napolitano, the secretary of homeland security, praised Mr. Clapper as "the consummate D.N.I."

...On Wednesday, however, administration officials suggested that Mr. Clapper had not followed the British arrests closely because of other business. He worked late Sunday night and early Monday morning tracking North Korean threats in response to a South Korean military exercise, the officials said. He participated in the morning intelligence briefing for the president, but Mr. Brennan had already informed Mr. Obama of the British arrests and they did not get much attention in the briefing, they said.

Later in the morning, Mr. Clapper worked on budget negotiations between the Office of Management and Budget and the 16 intelligence agencies he oversees. Then he was summoned to Capitol Hill to speak to senators on an arms control treaty, and he went directly from there to the ABC studios for the interview.

Several current and former intelligence officials who know Mr. Clapper described him as immersed 14 hours a day in his job, and said his momentarily befuddled appearance on ABC was deeply misleading.

“He’s incredibly sharp; he’s incredibly witty,” said Mark M. Lowenthal, a former Central Intelligence Agency assistant director who has known Mr. Clapper since 1995. “Clearly what happened was he was caught off guard and he hadn’t been briefed. I’m sorry, but we’re chasing phantoms here.”

It's funny that somehow, Clapper didn't even seem to have time to chat with Mr. Brennan or Ms. Napolitano in the minutes leading up to the interview about London. You'd think a smart media strategist would want them talking to each other -- at least on that day -- to sell how well they communicate. Oops.

The Washington Post and the Associated Press also ran brief articles with nothing but the Obama line. There was no Clapper-gaffe story in the Los Angeles Times or in USA Today.