Skunkworks
The editors of the New York Times and Washington Post have been summoned to the White House on multiple occasions in recent months to discuss blockbuster National Security-related articles prior to publication, Howard Kurtz reported this weekend. Interestingly, neither paper's editor would comment until Kurtz got confirmation from "sources who have been briefed on them but are not authorized to comment because both sides had agreed to keep the sessions off the record," whoever the hell they are.
If these secret-stories-behind-the-secret-stories deals interest you, I recommend this long Jay Rosen post. And if you're still coming out of your post-Christmas food coma, the Times advanced the NSA-intercept story over the weekend, including a digestible Week in Review essay. I also found this sober tech-specs speculation by the normally raucous Poor Man to be useful.