From the Washington Post, February 20, 2010:
"On their first day of class in Afghanistan, the new U.S. intelligence analysts were given a homework assignment.
First read a six-page classified military intelligence report about the situation in Spin Boldak, a key border town and smuggling route in southern Afghanistan. Then read a 7,500-word article in Harper's magazine, also about Spin Boldak and the exploits of its powerful Afghan border police commander.
The conclusion they were expected to draw: The important information would be found in the magazine story. The scores of spies and analysts producing reams of secret documents were not cutting it."
My investigation of Border Police drug-trafficking ring in Kandahar Province, published last December in Harper's Magazine seems have reached high places. The article, incidentally, has kindly been made available online, for free, by Harper's.