WASHINGTON – The weather was sweltering on the sidewalks of the U.S. Capitol last week, so the State Department officials walked outside the massive Foggy Bottom headquarters in shirtsleeves, clutching coffee cups and likely chatting about the work of diplomacy in a new and chaotic administration.
Unless you're close enough to read what it says on the ID badges around their necks, they will remain merely State Department officials: prohibited from speaking publicly or attaching names to what they say.
Unnamed government insiders seem to be blabbing behind every magnolia tree in Washington these days, despite President Donald Trump and his administration's daily denunciations of leaks.
The Washington media describe these sources as "people familiar with the process," "senior administration officials" or, in one Washington Post piece, "a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak more freely."
That kind of anonymity is essential in an era when talking to a reporter can get you fired or prosecuted for revealing classified information. But many of these unnamed sources are not conscience-stricken whistleblowers. They speak with the full knowledge and approval of their bosses.
For reasons that only make sense inside the Beltway, they demand the right to remain faceless.
With its massive public affairs operation and global reach, the U.S. Department of State actually spells out this peculiar policy on its website, under "Ground Rules for Interviewing State Department Officials."
"On the Record" interviews mean reporters can quote State Department employees by name.
