Secret CIA Memo About Cracking Down On Leaks Was Just Leaked

Impact
ByGabriel Grand

State secrets just can't seem to catch a break nowadays.

The Associated Press reported on Wednesday evening that Central Intelligence Agency director John Brennan sent out an internal memo to the CIA workforce this week announcing a new campaign aimed at pressuring intelligence agents into keeping the agency's secrets to themselves.

According to Brennan's memo, the "Honor the Oath" campaign is designed to "reinforce our corporate culture of secrecy" through training and education of CIA officers.

The effort, which was spurred by "several high-profile anonymous leaks and publications by former senior officers," apparently stems from a program of internal review launched last summer by former CIA Director David Petraeus.

The agency also concluded that it needs to review articles and books written by former employees more thoroughly before they are published.

The CIA initiative comes as another of the nation's intelligence organizations, the National Security Agency, attempts to address the many holes in its intelligence security that were revealed by Edward Snowden's massive leak of classified NSA information.

In an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, NSA Director Gen. Keith B. Alexander announced that his agency would institute a "two-man rule" that would require any of its 1,000 system administrators who wished to gain access to sensitive information to have a partner sign off first.

The "two-man rule" is a cryptographical security procedure employed on nuclear submarines and popularized in sci-fi films like "The Hunt for Red October."

Image courtesy of USA Today

The CIA's and NSA's efforts are part of a larger federal government crackdown on whistleblowers. But in this post-Snowden era, it's doubtful that these crackdowns will benefit anyone's security other than the government's.

After all, if your submarine is springing leaks, you could try to plug the holes, or you could wonder what 18 nuclear warheads are doing in an airtight titanium can 2,000 feet below sea level in the first place.

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