From the Cable at foreignpolicy.com: “What happened was that some of the consultations that we had abroad started creating some leaks with erroneous information about what the plan was,” said Michèle Flournoy, under secretary of defense for policy, who traveled to Europe with Ellen O. Tauscher, under secretary of state for arms control, and Alexander Vershbow, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, to deliver the news.

“It started creating a dynamic of erroneous speculation and reporting,” Flournoy continued. “The president was very ready to make a decision, so we decided that rather than have six weeks of erroneous speculation, we would go ahead and roll out the decision and correct the record for what this actually is.” (photo: U.S. Department of Defense)