At least, that’s what he tells CBS’s Chip Reid:

Reid says he asked the president if he’s as angry as Defense Secretary Robert Gates about all the leaks coming out of his administration about the Afghanistan decision.

“I think I’m angrier than Bob Gates about it,” Mr. Obama replied. “We have deliberations in the situation room for a reason; we’re making life and death decisions that affect how our troops are able to operate in a theater of war. For people to be releasing info in the course of deliberations is not appropriate.”

“A firing offense?” Reid inquired.

“Absolutely,” Mr. Obama responded.

Of course, that’s an easy thing to say. But leaks have always been a lubricant of debate here in Washington. Why do people leak? Sometimes because they are on the losing side of an internal argument, and want to have another chance to make their case, to a broader and more sympathetic audience. Or they want to cover their, um, bases if things go wrong. Or it has something to do with their own egos. Or all of these things.

Absent a subpoena or a best-selling memoir somewhere down the line, we probably will never find out who did the leaking. But it’s still worth recalling what happened the last time a President promised to fire a leaker.