Obama, Podesta Warn Transition Staff on Leaks

Jonathan Weisman and Monica Langley report on the transition. After nearly two years of controlling the message tightly, Barack Obama and his central team are watching information spinning out from the presidential transition like fireworks, and they’ve just about had it. The president-elect and the head of his transition, John Podesta , issued a stern directive to the staff: Leak and you’re fired. And don’t even talk to reporters. They’ll make too much of even innocuous comments. The directive is not exactly new. The Obama-Biden transition’s ethics code makes it explicit that the sharing of confidential information is a violation of the code and may result in dismissal. All transition workers agree to “hold in confidence any non-public information provided to me in the course of my duties with the Obama-Biden Transition Project and ensure that such information is used exclusively for purposes of the Obama-Biden Transition Project.” That is just one of 14 pledges that transition ... (link)