Saturday, February 11, 2006
Loose Lips Sink Spies
CIA Director Porter Goss warned Friday that the unauthorized disclosure of classified information jeopardizes American security and violates federal law.
"Unauthorized disclosure of classified intelligence,” Goss wrote in an op-ed for the New York Times, "inhibits our ability to carry out our mission and protect the nation.”
He reminded leakers that their actions are criminal violations of the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protect Act (ICWPA), a law that created confidential methods for intelligence operatives to bring questionable practices to the attention of Congress without going to the media.
Goss, a former Florida congressman who co-sponsored the ICWPA, said the act was working. Government employees, he claimed, have used it to correct abuses without risk of retribution.
He had harsh words for employees who did not use the ICWPA framework.
"On the other hand,” he wrote, "those who choose to bypass the law and go straight to the press are not noble, honorable or patriotic. Nor are they whistleblowers. Instead they are committing a criminal act that potentially places American lives at risk.”
"It is unconscionable,” he continued, "to compromise national security information and then seek protection as a whistleblower to forestall punishment.”
The threat to national security, he claimed, is not theoretical. He claimed counterparts in foreign intelligence services have told him, "You Americans can’t keep a secret.” And, as a result, those intelligence services are wary of cooperating with the CIA on counter-terrorism programs.
He also noted that a 1998 leak that U.S. intelligence officials were tracking Osama bin Laden’s satellite phone led directly to the loss of that invaluable tracking tool.
"The revelation of the phone tracking was, without question, one of the most egregious examples of an unauthorized criminal disclosure of classified national defense information in recent years,” Goss said.
"It served no public interest,” he continued, "Ultimately, the bin Laden phone went silent.”
Intelligences services, Goss said, have major advantages over terrorist organizations. But criminal disclosures "erase much of that advantage.”
"The terrorists,” he concluded, "gain an edge when they keep their secrets and we don’t keep ours.”
CIA Director Porter Goss warned Friday that the unauthorized disclosure of classified information jeopardizes American security and violates federal law.
"Unauthorized disclosure of classified intelligence,” Goss wrote in an op-ed for the New York Times, "inhibits our ability to carry out our mission and protect the nation.”
He reminded leakers that their actions are criminal violations of the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protect Act (ICWPA), a law that created confidential methods for intelligence operatives to bring questionable practices to the attention of Congress without going to the media.
Goss, a former Florida congressman who co-sponsored the ICWPA, said the act was working. Government employees, he claimed, have used it to correct abuses without risk of retribution.
He had harsh words for employees who did not use the ICWPA framework.
"On the other hand,” he wrote, "those who choose to bypass the law and go straight to the press are not noble, honorable or patriotic. Nor are they whistleblowers. Instead they are committing a criminal act that potentially places American lives at risk.”
"It is unconscionable,” he continued, "to compromise national security information and then seek protection as a whistleblower to forestall punishment.”
The threat to national security, he claimed, is not theoretical. He claimed counterparts in foreign intelligence services have told him, "You Americans can’t keep a secret.” And, as a result, those intelligence services are wary of cooperating with the CIA on counter-terrorism programs.
He also noted that a 1998 leak that U.S. intelligence officials were tracking Osama bin Laden’s satellite phone led directly to the loss of that invaluable tracking tool.
"The revelation of the phone tracking was, without question, one of the most egregious examples of an unauthorized criminal disclosure of classified national defense information in recent years,” Goss said.
"It served no public interest,” he continued, "Ultimately, the bin Laden phone went silent.”
Intelligences services, Goss said, have major advantages over terrorist organizations. But criminal disclosures "erase much of that advantage.”
"The terrorists,” he concluded, "gain an edge when they keep their secrets and we don’t keep ours.”
