Leaks are as D.C. as horrible commutes and muggy weather, but there are different flavors of leaks.

Administrations leak to plant materials, run trial balloons, and influence reporting on a topic.

Upper-tier government officials leak to build relationships with reporters and promote themselves. And to sabotage rivals and political opponents.

Middle-tier government officials leak to influence policy. That’s less common or at least it was until the Trump administration when the leaks began to really gush. Under Biden, it was fairly until Oct 7. Now lefty bureaucrats have a cause they care about, hating Israel as much as they hated Trump.

And there are still different flavors of leaks.

The Biden administration ‘leaks’ to Barak Ravid at Axios or the usuals at the Wall Street Journal, the NYT, and the Washington Post to plant damaging materials on Israel and shape the domestic narrative.

But then there are the unapproved leaks.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken directed his top staff to crack down on leaks about diplomacy relating to the Israel-Hamas war, saying clearly that he was “angry” with the constant stream of press reports revealing sensitive information.

Not only did classified materials make it into press reports, he chided State leadership earlier this month in a small team meeting, but also fresh proposals to broker a cease-fire and secure the release of hostages held by Hamas. Those leaks made tricky negotiations even harder, he said, and eroded trust within the State Department that documents or details of closed-door conversations wouldn’t find their way to a reporter.

In the meeting, Blinken urged those who report directly to him to help plug the leaks, particularly those related to the conflict in Gaza, according to three State Department officials. One of the State officials, granted anonymity to detail yet another private discussion, said Blinken’s message has since been sternly delivered throughout the department.

And then promptly leaked to Politico. See how it works?

It can be hard to tell what’s an administration-approved leak and what isn’t, but the administration would like to approve or disapprove all leaks. The problem is that this kind of behavior, deliberately subverting an administration’s policy for leftist partisan reasons, became the norm under the Trump administration. And once Dems and the media normalized it, it’s become that much harder to go back.