I missed 'em. Post facto, of course there'll be tons of discussion -- and Congressional pushback. The object was to delay that until everyone has signed on the dotted line. So the issue was not and is not either the Public or Congress knowing 'inside' information -- but rather when they know it. Later rather than early enough to affect the arguments.

Think of Eisenhower's dictum in his meetings -- "Silence is not an acceptable form of non-concurrence." Gates is surely aware of that and just as surely enforces it most of the time. However, he might have ignored it for these budget talks in the building and he can thus say to Congressman Phugabosky (GS, EW) "Well, when that issue was raised, ADM Steampowered did not object. I have the Transcript here..." or "I don't know, Senator GEN Throwntrack is here, you might ask him of his response when that issue was raised back in April..."

He flanked 'em -- and good for him for doing so.

As for this:
After all, the threat of prosecution and jail time doesn't seem to prevent disclosure of classified intelligence information to the press (which has had the effect inside the intelligence community of more stovepiping, not less).
I totally agree that has been the effect -- it is ALWAYS the Intel community's response to their own transgressions. I'll also point out tha most of those leaks are made in an effort to skew decisions and policies. The question is, since the Intel community itself is largely responsible for most of those leaks -- even drops some of them -- what have they done about putting anyone in jail?