Padding a resume and self-sourcing is not limited to Jason Blair and Bob Woodward.
There are far too many self-appointed journalists and former Congressional staffers who enjoy the nudge nudge wink wink game...and then they like to boast of their inside sources who always work for one collection of spooks or another.
Cons are smart enough to know how easy it is to keep a spook confidential. There happen to be a couple of other self-appointed 'journalists' and 'insiders' of very dubious vetting waxing informed on this very thread...they make the puffer toad look like a piker.
If I had wanted to, years ago when I signed on to this place I could have dropped hints that I was some sort of insider. I could have provided enough color to lend authenticity. Then when everyone was used to me and trusted me, I could have deliberately planted stories from "inside sources" to advance my own agenda, whether left, right, or center.
I think we need to be a little more discerning of unnamed or unverified sources.