Mark Hosenball reports on the drone-strike debate:

One person standing in the way of expanded missile strikes: President Obama. Five administration officials tell NEWSWEEK that the president has sided with political and diplomatic advisers who argue that widening the scope of the drone attacks would be risky and unwise. Obama is concerned that firing missiles into urban areas like Quetta, where intelligence reports suggest that Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and other high-level militants have sometimes taken shelter, would greatly increase the risk of civilian casualties. It would also draw protests from Pakistani politicians and military leaders, who have been largely quiet about the drone attacks as long as they’ve been confined to the country’s out-of-sight border region. The White House has been encouraged by Pakistan’s own recent military efforts to root out militants along the Afghan border, and it does not want to jeopardize that cooperation.

No doors are closed, Hosenball clarifies. But I can almost hear the snap of the bottlecap after Andrew Exum’s keychain opener makes contact and almost hear the glass filling after Dave Kilcullen makes a perfect pour.

Update: Whoever leaked this has read a little too much about Nixon in late 1969.