On the heels of Mike Isikoff's scoop about Eric Holder, the Financial Times is running with a new anonymously sourced story reporting that Obama is in discussions with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates about remaining on at the Pentagon:

President-elect Barack Obama and Robert Gates are negotiating terms under which the defence secretary would remain as Pentagon chief in his administration, the Financial Times has learned.

Mr Obama, through an intermediary, has approached Mr Gates, who has served as defence secretary under President George W. Bush since 2006, about accepting the position, which would place a respected Republican appointee in his cabinet.

According to a source familiar with the situation, Mr Gates is seriously weighing the option. The two men are ironing out policy and personnel issues before a final offer could be made.

Obviously, it's difficult to keep these sorts of high profile disucssions under wraps. Nevertheless, the speed at which the revelations are coming from anonymous sources has to be somewhat disconcerting for the Obama team which prided itself on being leak free throughout the longest and most intensely covered campaign in history. An alternate explanation is that they are purposefully floating these names as trial balloons to see whether they rise or sink, which isn't out of the question but would also be disconcerting in and of itself.