Secrecy News

Although there is no foolproof system of preventing unauthorized disclosures of classified information (”leaks”), there are a variety of new technical tools that can deter such disclosures or facilitate identification of those who compromise information security, according a 2002 CIA Task Force Report that was released last year under the Freedom of Information Act.

See “Interagency Task Force Report on Unauthorized Disclosure of Classified Information” (pdf), CIA Directorate of Science and Technology, 25 March 2002.

A supplementary paper argued that new legislation against leaks was “urgently needed.” The author singled out the National Security Archive and the Federation of American Scientists for propagating the “popular myth that the government over-classifies everything, and classifies way too much.” See “Leaks: How Unauthorized Media Disclosures of US Classified Intelligence Damage Sources and Methods” (pdf), Foreign Denial and Deception Committee, 24 April 2002.

The interagency process ultimately rejected the view that new legislation was needed. An October 2002 report to Congress from the Attorney General indicated that existing tools to combat leaks appeared to be adequate.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 3rd, 2008 at 12:15 pm by Steven Aftergood and is filed under Secrecy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.