Ah whoops you didn't read it properly. What the publisher did was provide cover for traveling spies in the 50s and 60s. Sounds like a big deal, but from the linked source, everyone was doing it.

The organizations, which range from some of the most influential in the nation to some of the most obscure, include ABC and CBS News, Time, Life and Newsweek magazines. The New York Times, The New York Herald Tribune, The Associated Press and United Press International

Obama did some research for a company which provided cover in the 50s. No more a front company than NYT, WSJ, CBS. So your sensationalist headline is a lie, op