The power of group analysis

The NYT this morning leads with a fascinating story headlined, "U.S. Web archive is said to reveal a nuclear guide" with a dek: Arms experts concerned, Site hut -- documents reportedly spelled out secret Iraq research.

Here is how Slate.com's Today's Papers recounts the story:

The New York Times leads with word from weapons experts that documents posted on a Web site created by the federal government included a basic guide on how to build an atom bomb. The documents were part of a project to make public the 48,000 boxes of documents apprehended during the invasion of Iraq in 2003...

The Web site was created at the behest of Republicans in Congress who said intelligence agencies never properly analyzed all the documents. The idea was to put the documents in cyberspace so people could analyze them and try to find answers about Saddam Hussein's prewar activities. But recently, the site posted approximately a dozen documents with charts, graphs, and instructions on building an atom bomb that go beyond what is publicly available. Apparently, officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency expressed their concerns to the U.S. government last week, but it took an inquiry from the NYT to get the site closed down last night.