Flashback: Nick Burns assailed reporter for exposing Russian nuke bunker

Nick Burns, the State Department official behind the plan to pay billions of dollars Russia to accept the world's spent nuclear fuel, has a history of covering up for the Kremlin.

During the Clinton administration, Burns, as State Department spokesman, sold the public on Strobe Talbott's chekaphilic policy toward Russia.

Burns also tried to cover up for Russian misdeeds.

In April 1997, when news emerged that Russia was building massive fortified nuclear command centers at Yamantau Mountain and Kosvinsky Mountain, State Department Spokesman Burns ducked reporters questions and assailed the integrity of the reporter who broke the story.

The Pentagon, on the other hand, confirmed that the story was true. It even released data, such as the map accompanying this posting, to substantiate the report.

A check of the transcript of Burns' press briefing shows he attacked Washington Times reporter Bill Gertz for revealing the bunker program.

Asked to comment on the story, Burns responded, "You know, I was gone for eight days, and I thought maybe I'd come back and things would be different. But they're not different. I find Mr. Gertz spends most of his time collecting alleged intelligence reports and then regurgitating them on the pages of his newspaper. And, frankly, there ought to be - I mean, most journalists in this city, including, I think, everybody in this room, do their job in a very different way. You go out and do your own research, you talk to people. You go out and you work hard, and you sweat to get your stories. Clearly their must be another way of reporting on the US-Russian relationship than leaking alleged intelligence documents. So I don't think I'll give it the time of day, frankly. (Laughter.) Except to just sound off again against the modus operandi of Mr. Gertz."