WAS LOGAN’S HUSBAND SOURCE FOR DISCREDITED 60 MINUTES REPORT?

Where did 60 Minutes correspondent Lara Logan come up with the widely scoffed-at claim that Al Qaeda masterminded the attack on the American diplomatic mission at Benghazi, in 2012? Jeff Stein, national security contributing editor at Newsweek, thinks he knows: her husband. On Thursday, Stein observed in a speculative commentary on the magazine’s website that Logan is married to Joseph W. Burkett, who he described as a onetime employee of the private intelligence outfit the Lincoln Group, and who “has clearly kept a hand in the world of security contractors.” Noting that Logan has demonstrated that “she’s a smart, tough, experienced reporter. And the producer and writers and reporters who helped her put this Benghazi story together are honored, respected professionals,” Stein concluded: “Whoever fooled them, whoever convinced them that al Qaeda orchestrated that attack on the U.S. embassy, had to be smart, incredibly persuasive and savvy about the media. And unquotable. In other words, an intelligence source. And the person closest to Logan with those credentials is her husband. But he’s not talking.” Stein said that he paid an unannounced call on Burkett at his home on Wednesday. “When asked for comment … Burkett angrily ushered me out the door,” Stein wrote.