The aide is actually not anonymous if you follow the story a bit. If you follow the links in the story you can easily figure it out.
I think it's good to not expose career staffers to the full public public wrath without need. Making it more painful for staffers to talk to the public will just get you less of that, nothing else.
I suppose that's a bit better but I was kind of objecting to the NYT and other large papers habit of sourcing these anonymous comments from government officials. This is not a one-off thing. It's their status quo.
It just seems like it has nothing to do with the article. Upon rereading they even have his name in there:
Mr. Murry, who is an adviser for Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, raised doubts over the weekend about whether that debate will be necessary. His remarks came during a podcast for the national security website Lawfare.
I think it's good to not expose career staffers to the full public public wrath without need. Making it more painful for staffers to talk to the public will just get you less of that, nothing else.