Due to the leaking of pertinent and investigatory information from the Manchester bombing, relations between the British and US law enforcement communities has suffered greatly. The incident has caused the British law enforcement community to stop sharing information with US law enforcement. Information, as detailed as forensic photographs of the crime scene, were published worldwide in the New York Times. This is unprecedented, and a very clear and tangible result of the damage leaking unauthorized information has caused.
Trust in the security of information given to the US, be it classified or simply private, is of great concern. British Prime Minister Theresa May will speak to President Trump about the constant leaks. The problem has reached a level of international concern among world leaders.
Many European cities, including Paris, Berlin, and Brussels have suffered attacks in the last two years, underlining the importance of confidential intelligence cooperation.
It should go without saying and continues to be made clear that the leaking of classified information is wrong. Still, the lack of security on classified information has reached a point of being ludicrous. No information is secure anymore. The motivations to leak information, as is now being done now so frequently, need to be seen in the clear light of day and stopped. The act of doing so is not only wrong and extremely hurtful to the country, it is flat-out illegal.
The hero worship of whistleblowers such as Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden is misguided and naive. Leaks have plagued the White House, the FBI, the NSA, and every other three letter agency you can name as well as those you can’t. It is not only the agencies that have an open faucet of classified information flowing to the public, but it is also the politicians. These professional speakers pontificate for a living. Many times, with nothing else to say, they leak information to stay in the public eye. They use their knowledge of “secret” information as a vehicle for power and influence.
It is time to put a stop to it. It is time to aggressively go after those that leak information when not authorized to do so. The press is very much to blame for the current situation. Yes, there is freedom of the press, yes the people have a right to know, but not everything. The actions by those leaking information are illegal and are bordering of subversive and frankly disloyal to the US.
What is the answer? It is time for a special unit of investigators to go after the problem. It is time for dedicated career federal investigators to be assigned the task and be granted the authority to go after the leakers wherever they may be found. This unit must be immune to political pressure as clearly some of the culprits will be found in our political offices. This unit must have authority to investigate, in private, as any good investigation is done. The unit needs to be funded immediately and must operate independently. Investigations must be compartmentalized to secure internal information from escaping the investigation. Yes, congressional oversite will be required, but it must be a very small and select group. Any information leaked about those investigations could then be quickly sourced and prosecuted.
What to do once a leak source is determined? The swift prosecution is the only answer. Harsh penalties are the outcome. It makes no difference who the leak comes from, if it is in violation, it must be prosecuted. This is a zero defect task.
In the congressional hearings that have been the mainstay of the last few months, Rep. Trey Gowdy posed the question to then FBI Director Comey. He asked, “Is there an exception in the law for reporters who want to break a story?”
Comey answered, “That’s a harder question as to whether a reporter incurs criminal liability by publishing classified information and one probably beyond my ken,” Comey continued, adding he wasn’t aware of any reporter who had been prosecuted in his lifetime. (The noun ken means “range of vision or comprehension).
Former Director Comey proved exactly what is wrong with the system and frankly with the way the leaks are treated in his answer. Rep. Gowdy correctly pointed out there was no exception to the law for reporters and those that pass along classified information. Rep. Gowdy is correct and those that pass on second hand classified information, information that is not authorized for release, must be held accountable
We have laws in this country about leaking classified information. It is high time to enforce them.
