The New York Times deemed newsy enough to merit lead story placement its piece, based on “more than four dozen interviews,” about Al Qaeda “rebuilding” and now “thriv[ing] in tribal lands” in Pakistan while in Washington a “secret” Bush administration “plan” to “make it easier for the Pentagon’s Special Operations forces to launch missions” into those areas “has been held up…by the very disagreements it was meant to eliminate” — namely, “turf battles” and “policy disputes” among those in Washington and Islamabad tasked with fighting terrorism.

White House spokesperson Dana Perino, per Politico, deemed the piece “nothing new” (in contrast to a more heated White House reaction to the story apparently teased by Drudge last night).