Rule 1: Always protect methods and sources
Rule 2: Never let them know what you know.
Rule 3: Only violate Rule 1 and Rule 2 in order to mix in some disinformation that you want them to believe.
Rule 4: Never confirm or deny, see Rules 1 & 2.
Rule 5: Never use official channels to when implementing Rule 3, feed disinformation through putative leaks, see rule 4.
If I’m the POTUS when bin Laden gets caught, I don’t say a WORD about it publicly until my intelligence department and my military have a chance to peruse all the information gathered from the compound.
After I smashed a few more key members of the al Qaeda network, THEN I would make public the news of bin Laden’s death.
I think Obama was in such a hurry to gain from this politically, that he willingly sacrificed future military gains against our enemy. Part of the reelection campaign, I suppose.