Bob Woodward is body armor in official Washington. He’s protection against the verdict of history, since his insider books are usually the first attempt to explain the inner workings of any given Administration. You want to be on his good side; just ask Colin Powell. So when former General Jim Jones invited Woodward along on a trip to the war zones in late June, Jonathan Martin (substituting for Ben Smith) and others wisely spotted this as the General up-armoring against the rumors that he wasn’t adapting too well as National Security Adviser. What’s curious is that Hillary Clinton was attempting her own defensive maneuvers at about the same time, hoping to hire her former enforcer, Sid Blumenthal–an effort that was nuked by the Obama White House.