The Indispensable Leak

Secretary of State Dean Acheson, who has often had trouble understanding and being understood by the U.S. press, last week gave his own estimate of the role of the press in diplomatic relations. Said Acheson at a meeting of the Canadian Club in Ottawa: "We are blessed in this era with a form of diplomatic communication which is faster than instantaneous. I refer to the press, which . . . often precedes the event, and sometimes reliably. Indeed the press rumor or 'leak' has become an almost indispensable adjunct of modern-day diplomacy. Perhaps this is . . . Government austerity designed to reduce cable tolls. In any case, there is no diplomatic interchange . . . not preceded by, enlarged by . . . or nullified by . . . press rumors, speculations or leaks, propelled like those pneumatic tubes in the department stores, by air--mostly hot."

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