The Art of the Leak

If we've learned anything so far from the mess in the White House, it should be that it's against human nature to keep a secret, to bottle up that delicious piece of information that will astonish with its salaciousness or confound with its improbability. Monica Lewinsky blabbed on for hours to Linda Tripp. Tripp blabbed to Lucianne Goldberg. And so on, until the lawyers for Paula Jones and then the independent counsel got wind of this tale. Now we all know.

But just how--and why--do we know? First, because the parties in the case, the very people bound by gag orders...