This makes our collective head spin. First, a word about Bill Gertz. Here's his current bio ...

Bill Gertz is senior editor of the Washington Free Beacon. Prior to joining the Beacon he was a national security reporter, editor, and columnist for 27 years at the Washington Times. Bill is the author of six books, four of which were national bestsellers ...

Bill has an international reputation. Vyachaslav Trubnikov, head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, once called him a "tool of the CIA" after he wrote an article exposing Russian intelligence operations in the Balkans. A senior CIA official once threatened to have a cruise missile fired at his desk after he wrote a column critical of the CIA's analysis of China.

And China's communist government has criticized him for news reports exposing China's weapons and missile sales to rogues states ... Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld once told him: "You are drilling holes in the Pentagon and sucking out information."

We can see from this bio that Gertz has an extensive reputation as an aggressive reporter, and this article would seem to confirm that perspective. It is surely an informed and hard-hitting story.