Government indicts former CIA officer for leaks of classfied information to journalists

The Justice Department  is charging a former intelligence officer with leaking classified information to a journalist. The leaks included the names of covert officers and their work in apprehending terrorist suspects. The officer is charged with divulging to a New York Times reporter the contact information and details of activities of a covert CIA operative. [...]

Obama administration wants to know who leaked Bin Laden raid details to filmmakers

The Pentagon inspector general has begun an investigation into who leaked classified information to filmmakers about the Bin Laden raid that resulted in the death of the terrorist leader. There had been news reports that the filmmakers were given access to the Pentagon and White House. -db From the Los Angeles Times, January 5, 2012, [...]

U.S. Supreme Court accepts sealed petition from Blackwater security guards under indictment for manslaughter

The U.S. Supreme Court accepted a secret petition from four former Blackwater security guards indicted for manslaughter for firing on Iraqi civilians wounding 20 and killing 14. The court will consider the petition in deciding if a federal district judge erred in dismissing the charges against the guards on the grounds that the prosecution used [...]

U.S. diplomat suspended for publishing book criticizing Iraq war policy

The Obama administration suspended Foreign Services Officer Peter Van Buren for his book critical of the State Department operations in Iraq. Van Buren also installed a link to WikiLeaks on his blog. “No one was particularly concerned about what we were doing, how much money we were spending, and the results of our endeavors,”  Van [...]

Challenge to federal appeals court’s extending Espionage Act to unclassified info

An effort is underway to challenge a federal court ruling that extended the application of the Espionage Act to unclassified, non-governmental information. An attorney for a man convicted on charges of economic espionage filed a petition with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals claiming the conviction for “gathering national defense information” was unjust in that [...]

Study suggests way to reduce government overclassification

A report by the Brennan Center for Justice proposes a pilot program for the government to insure employees are accountable for improper classification decisions. The report calls for better training for employees on what should be classified. The report also suggests building in incentives for declassifying documents. -db From The Reporters Committee for Freedom of [...]

CIA wants to censor book by former FBI agent about 9/11 and terrorism

The Central Intelligence Agency is demanding that a memoir of a former FBI agent be heavily cut before publication. The agent was at the forefront of the fight against Al Qaeda and terrorism and makes some pointed criticisms of CIA errors including the harsh interrogation of the first important captive after 9/11. People close to [...]

Obama to issue new order improving security in response to WikiLeaks

The Obama administration will issue an executive order in a matter of weeks to tighten security of classified information. New procedures will meet the challenge of groups like WikiLeaks who  got ahold of thousands of classified documents concerning the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The procedures will fill in gaps in policy for information systems security [...]

Federal judge says receiving classified information a felony

A federal judge’s assertion that receiving classified information without authorization was a felony is “almost certainly a misunderstanding and a misrepresentation of the law,” writes Steven Aftergood of Secrecy News. The judge made the statement in a memorandum concerning an order limiting the scope of testimony of New York Times reporter James Risen in the [...]

Federal secrecy: Complaint to fight gratuitous classification

The former head of the Security Oversight Office, J.William Leonard, has filed a complaint against two federal agencies for classifying a document that has no secrets. The complaint asked that officials be punished for overclassification. Leonard said in his 34 years in government, he often saw documents unnecessarily classified as secret, and no one was [...]

Government secrets: How many and for how long?

In a memorandum just made public this week, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said in 2005 tht the government secrecy system was a failure, that the government was incapable of keeping a secret and policies need to be crafted to deal with that reality. One current government official said Rumsfeld’s initial premise was wrong. The [...]

Whistleblower gets plea deal, dodges espionage conviction

A former employee of the National Security Agency, Thomas A. Drake, charged with espionage for leaking classified information, struck a deal with the Justice Department admitting to a misdemeanor of using NSA’s computers to to provide information to a reporter for the Baltimore Sun. It is expected that Drake will not have to serve any [...]

Espionage Act: Washington Post questions charges against former government employee

Justice Department prosecutors are trying Thomas Drake, a former employee of the National Security Agency, for violation of the Espionage Act after Drake talked to a Baltimore Sun reporter about a program he thought was wasting billions of taxpayer dollars. A Washington Post editorial argues that the indictment and proposed punishment are not proportionate to [...]

Defense Department puts heat on employees to report suspicious information flows

A new directive requires Department of Defense personnel to report suspicious activities and behavior. Personnel could be punished for failing to report the specified activities. Steven Aftergood of Secrecy News writes, “The directive lists numerous actions that are subject to mandatory reporting including ‘attempts to obtain classified or sensitive information by an individual not authorized [...]

WikiLeaks protects its information with threat of huge monetary penalty

To make sure that none of its treasure of leaked information is leaked, WikiLeaks is asking its associates to sign a nondisclosure agreement that the leaked information is solely the property of WikiLeaks, and should anyone leak this commercial property, they would be subject to a penalty of 12 million pounds or almost $20 million. [...]

WikiLeaks investigation part of broader campaign against leakers

As a federal grand jury is preparing to look into the WikiLeaks release of classified U.S. Iraq and Afghanistan war documents, the Justice Department is aggressively pursuing others accused of leaking government secrets. Says Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists’ Secrecy News, “For people who are concerned about freedom of the press, access [...]

Freedom of information: Public ignorant of cyberspace attacks

A U.S. senator concerned that the American public has not been adequately informed about the dangers of cyberspace attacks is seeking to poke a hole in the classification system to raise awareness. Steven Aftergood of Secrecy News quoted Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) about the effects of the attacks, “Every year, cyber attacks inflict vast damage [...]

Senate committee wants stiffer penalties for leakers of classified information

The Senate Intelligence Committee wants to deprive current or former employees of federal intelligence agencies of their pensions if they illegally disclose classified information. The change was proposed after complaints that leakers faced no serious consequences for their actions. In a dissenting statement , Oregon Senator Ron Wyden wrote that he feared that the new [...]

Espionage Act challenged by defense in trial of former CIA officer

Secrecy News’ Steven Aftergood says the federal government has once again seen how awkward it is to use the Espionage Act to indict its employees, in this case Jeffrey A. Sterling, a former CIA officer, for allegedly disclosing classified information to the press. Aftergood says, “An initial difficulty for the prosecution is that the espionage [...]

Senate bill would criminalize leaking classified information

A Democratic senator introduced a bill to make it a felony for a government employee or contractor to disclose classified information to an unauthorized person. Existing law only criminalizes information including codes, cryptography, intelligence communication, identities of cover agents and nuclear weapons design information. In Secrecy News, Steven Aftergood argues, “And at a time when [...]

Man charged with espionage uses First Amendment defense

A former foreign policy analyst under indictment for espionage filed motions to dismiss the charges arguing that the charges violate his First Amendment right to talk with the press. -db The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press February 2, 2011 By Kacey Deame A defendant charged with espionage for allegedly leaking “national defense information” [...]

Former CIA officer indicted for leaks to New York Times

The Obama administration indicted a former CIA officer, continuing its campaign to prosecute individuals for leaking classified information. -db The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press January 7, 2011 By Peter Haldis A former CIA officer was indicted last month for allegedly providing a New York Times reporter with classified information. He is the latest in [...]

Security tightening under WikiLeaks pressure

In response to recent breaches in security and WikiLeak’s release of classified documents, the Obama administration has issued a memorandum calling for government agencies to assess their information policies and tighten security. -db Secrecy News Commentary January 4, 2011 By Steven Aftergood The Obama Administration is moving to increase the security of classified information in [...]

WikiLeaks learning to enlist press to interpret documents

WikiLeaks has learned the importance of strategically releasing documents to selected news outlets to obtain the maximum exposure through the outlets’ ability to report on the significance of the documents. -db The New York Times Commentary December 12, 2010 By David Carr Has WikiLeaks changed journalism forever? Perhaps. Or maybe it was the other way around. [...]

Federal government tells employees not to look at classified WikiLeak documents

The general counsel of the Office of Management and Budget issued a reminder to government employees and contractor that they had an obligation to maintain the secrecy of the classified information that WikiLeaks posted and should refrain from reading it. -db NextGov December 6, 2010 By Brian Kalish The White House and federal agencies reminded [...]

ACLU argues against prosecuting Wikileaks

The American Civil Liberties Union argues that prosecuting organizations like Wikileaks for releasing classified information would damage the ability of the press and others to inform the public about government actions. -db American Civil Liberties Union Commentary November 29, 2010 The Wikileaks phenomenon — the existence of an organization devoted to obtaining and publicly releasing [...]

Justice Department lawyers fail to get names of experts in National Security Agency leak case

A federal judge denied a request by government prosecutors in a case against an accused leaker at the National Security Agency. The prosecutors were attempting to obtain the identities of two expert witnesses who could be called by the defense. -db The Washington Post November 29, 2010 By Ellen Nakashima Prosecutors failed Monday to persuade [...]

U.S. government looking to charge Wikileaks founder with espionage

The Justice Department and Pentagon are investigating possible charges against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange for violating the Espionage Act of 1917 in releasing hundreds of classified documents. -db Washington Post November 30, 2010 By Ellen Nakashima and Jerry Markon Federal authorities are investigating whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange violated criminal laws in the group’s release [...]

Obama administration urges bypassing Freedom of Information Act to contact agencies directly

Obama administration officials are saying that obtaining government documents through the FOIA is necessarily a lengthy process and contacting government officials directly would yield better results. -db NextGov November 15, 2010 By Aliya Sternstein The White House’s open government leader said Americans should not bother filing requests for government documents under the Freedom of Information [...]

Secrecy News: Wikileaks report on Iraq useful in revealing scale and horror of civilian casualties

While previously critical of Wikileaks for its irresponsible disclosure of some classified documents from the Afghan war, Secrecy News’ Steven Aftergood says that the Iraq war documents released on October 22 provide valuable insight into the war particularly on civilian casualties. -db Secrecy News Commentary October 25, 2010 By Steven Aftergood Thousands of previously unrecognized [...]

Pentagon urges media not to publish WikiLeaks documents from Iraq war

The Pentagon says it is reviewing 400,000 documents from the Iraq war to release for publication and asked the media not to legitimize WikiLeaks by publishing information obtained illegally. -db USA TODAY October 18, 2010 By Tom Vanden Brook WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Pentagon task force was bracing Monday for the unauthorized release of perhaps [...]

Commentator sees double standard in federal approach to prosecuting disclosures of classified information

Steven Aftergood of Secrecy News writes that in both the Bush and Obama presidencies leaks of classified information are tolerated so long as they originate from in-house sources rather than from administration critics. -db Secrecy News Commentary October 19, 2010 By Steven Aftergood It seems that some disclosures of classified information can lead a person [...]

WikiLeaks slams Wired in denying plans to release Iraq war documents

A Wired reporter says the publication stands by its story based on interviews with former WikiLeaks employees that WikiLeaks is preparing to release a database of nearly 40,000 Iraq military documents. -db Wired Commentary October 18, 2010 By Kevin Poulsen We interrupt our regular coverage to address a rare dispatch from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange [...]

WikiLeaks set to release more classified documents on Iraq

As problems mount for the organization, WikiLeaks is preparing to release 400,000 secret documents on the war in Iraq. -db CNN October 18, 2010 The controversial website WikiLeaks is expected to release 400,000 documents related to the war in Iraq. The last huge WikiLeaks leak came in July when the site published what was dubbed The [...]

ACLU asks for more transparency in disclosing legal rulings on federal surveillance

The American Civil Liberties Union has commented on new rules by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court regarding public access to court records by asking the FISC to disclose records of significant rulings. -db American Civil Liberties Union Press Release October 4, 2010 NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union today submitted comments on new [...]

Pentagon buys up copies of Army officer’s memoir on Afghan war

The Department of Defense bought out the first printing of an Army officer’s memoir out of concern that the book contained state secrets. -db CNN September 28, 2010 By Chris Lawrence and Padma Rama Washington (CNN) — The Department of Defense recently purchased and destroyed thousands of copies of an Army Reserve officer’s memoir in an [...]

State Department analyst indicted for disclosing secrets about North Korea to Fox News

The Obama administration has taken an aggressive stance toward individuals leaking secret information to the media. -db The New York Times August 27, 2010 By Scott Shane WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal grand jury in Washington has indicted a State Department analyst suspected of disclosing top-secret information about North Korea to Fox News, the third [...]

Wikileaks criticized for ‘clumsy disclosure’

Steven Aftergood of Secrecy News argues that WikiLeaks disclosure of the Afghan War Diary has had the unfortunate consequence of increasing public support for the present system of document classification. -db Secrecy News Commentary August 16, 2010 By Steven Aftergood Unauthorized disclosures of classified information (“leaks”) often play an important role in the proper functioning [...]

Obama said to be tougher than Bush in prosecuting for leaks to the media

The Obama administration is vigorously investigating and prosecuting officials leaking information to the press including a veteran intelligence official who considers himself a loyal citizen and a whistle blower but now faces  federal charges for mishandling classified information. -db The New York Times June 11, 2010 By Scott Shane WASHINGTON, D.C. — Hired in 2001 [...]

Former National Security Agency official indicted for providing classified information on agency’s flawed modernization program

A federal grand jury indicted a former National Security Agency official for leaking government records to a reporter relating to the agency’s failings to upgrade its systems to more efficiently sort the huge amount of data gathered from e-mails, phone calls and other electronic communications. First Amendment advocates fear the indictment will have a chilling [...]

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