This exercise will – if the allegations are sustained by evidence – help establish a norm of exposing the rat finks that could discourage future saboteurs.

The chronic problem of sabotage by bureaucrats hostile to the outsider president shaking up the Deep State will never be solved until unmasking and punishment become the order of the day. That’s why it is so heartening that with unusual swiftness, accusations are pointing to the alleged identity of a leaker who successfully delayed implementation of a key Trump policy initiative, the planned ICE raids on illegal alien scofflaws who have defied court orders for theior deportation.

Leaks to multiple media outlets, first reported by the Washington Post, exposed plans for ICE raids on illegal aliens who have gone through the appeals process and ignored court orders for their deportation. As a result, following strong Democrat protests, implementation of the plan has been delayed by two weeks.

Anna Giaritelli of the Washington Examiner reports on the evidence leading to accusations against acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan as the orchestrator of a leak campaign intended to stymie the policy of the elected leader of the executive branch, a campaign that has succeeded for at least two weeks:

Kevin McAleenan (official photo)

… all five officials who spoke with theWashington Examiner confirmed McAleenan's decision to go rogue and stymie the operation was what prompted the White House to call off the 10-city operation. (snip) The sources said only a small number of people in the White House, ICE, and DHS were even aware of the plan’s details, including which cities, the date and time, and who would be targeted. Two officials said the acting secretary, who was promoted internally in April, had fought for months during closed-door discussions with White House officials, the former acting ICE Director Ronald Vitiello, and the new acting ICE Director Mark Morgan against the plan, which they noted was similar to one the Obama administration carried out in 2015. “I know he has not approved of this operation for months,” one person familiar with those private conversations said during a phone call Saturday night. “The president wouldn’t leak that. ICE wouldn’t leak that. There’s only a few people involved in these discussions … The only one who could have shared the details of those operations were Kevin.” “That’s our belief,” a second official said when asked if McAleenan was behind the leak. “The secretary was not supportive from day one.” The first official said McAleenan may have leaked it so that he could “be the martyr” in the face of anticipated blowback in the future. A third official claimed McAleenan “cares more about what liberals and 'Never Trumpers' in Congress and the media think of him the achieving the express mission of his department.”

One former official, now a Fox News contributor and President Trump’s announced candidate for “border czar,” actualy went on TV yesterday (on Fox News, natch), strongly implying McAleenan was the scoundrel. As Sundance notes: