RUMSFELD'S OFFICE CONFIRMS GIVING PERMISSION FOR PHOTO OF HIS HOUSE

EXCLUSIVE: SECRET SERVICE SAYS TIMES ARTICLE ON CHENEY, RUMSFELD HOMES IS NOT A SECURITY THREAT;
RUMSFELD'S OFFICE CONFIRMS GIVING PERMISSION FOR PHOTO OF HIS HOUSE.

A spokesperson for the Secret Service has told me that the New York Times article providing details about the homes of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld is not a security threat, as many conservative commentators have been trying to argue.

Relatedly, Rumsfeld's spokesperson also confirmed to me that his office gave a Times photographer permission to photograph his home.

Over the weekend, a host of right-wing web sites were aflame with allegations that this story in the Times was a major threat to the security of Cheney and Rumsfeld because it provided details and a picture of their houses. Some even suggested the paper was deliberately endangering their security. Michelle Malkin suggested that Bill Keller had published the story "because al Qaeda already must have an inkling that Rumsfeld and Cheney live somewhere in the greater Washington, D.C. area." Others posted the personal information of the photographer who took the picture. And there was much, much more vitriol and bloodthirsty howling of all sorts.