Guardian News & Media said:
The loss of classified data was not the responsibility of journalists but of the intelligence community itself. It is only the involvement of global newspapers that prevented this information from spilling out across the web and genuinely causing a catastrophic leak.
We have consulted regularly with the DA-notice committee, Downing Street, the White House and the intelligence agencies, giving them time to raise concerns and flag up anxieties. We have listened carefully to the arguments made to us, agreed not to publish certain things, and redacted all names and sensitive operational details.
That said, we understand that some people will always warn that any form of disclosure has a damaging impact on the work of the security services – but this cannot mean the end of all questioning and debate.(1)
Though I might post this, given recent Snowden revelations
(1) http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/11/snowden-files-survey-confusion-nsa-role
